Nicolas Cage’s Unreleased WWII Thriller ‘Fortitude’ Sparks $105 Million Lawsuit Against Netflix

Netflix is facing a $105 million lawsuit after the producers of an unreleased Nicolas Cage film allege the streaming giant lost an unencrypted master copy of the movie under its watch. The lawsuit centers on ‘Fortitude,’ a World War II thriller that producers say Netflix lost after receiving it for consideration.

Swiss producer Simon Afram invested more than $45 million in the film over seven years, and he was in the process of trying to sell it to Netflix or another distributor when the alleged theft occurred. The case, filed in California federal court, raises pointed questions about how streaming platforms handle unreleased film assets during the acquisition process.

The ‘Fortitude’ Lawsuit and What Sparked It

Attorneys for Afram said in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in California, that the filmmakers delivered an unencrypted master copy of the World War II drama ‘Fortitude’ to Netflix in June at the company’s request. According to the complaint, Netflix was weighing whether to acquire the rights to the film and had arranged to screen it on June 16.

The complaint alleges that the film’s associate producer, Daniel Haido, personally hand delivered an unencrypted master copy so that Netflix could screen it as a potential buyer. The lawsuit further claims that Haido verbally instructed a Netflix employee to delete the files once the screening was complete.

Netflix’s own delivery instructions reportedly specified that if the digital cinema package was encrypted, the filmmakers needed to keep its digital keys active through the end of the screening day. That detail has become central to the producers’ argument that Netflix understood the sensitivity of the material it was handling.

Simon Afram wrote the script for ‘Fortitude’ and spent seven years bringing it to the screen, and the complaint states that an associate producer dropped off the digital cinema package at Netflix headquarters in June so the company could evaluate the rights. The film dramatizes the real life Operation Fortitude, the Allied deception campaign designed to convince Nazi Germany that the D-Day invasion would happen elsewhere.

How the Alleged Theft Was Discovered

The lawsuit claims that ten days after the hard drive was delivered to Netflix’s Sunset Bronson Studios offices in Los Angeles, Sean Berney, Netflix’s head of film acquisitions, told the filmmakers in an email that the drive had been stolen. In that email, dated June 25, Berney wrote that someone had stolen a good amount of drives from the company’s office desks that week.

Berney added that Netflix’s security teams had been unable to resolve the issue and that its piracy teams remained on high alert following the breach. Nine days after the screening, the plaintiffs say they were informed via that Netflix email that a drive containing ‘Fortitude’ had been among those taken.

Producer Simon Afram claims Netflix lost an unencrypted copy of ‘Fortitude,’ a project he says took seven years and around 45 million dollars to develop, according to a report from Variety. The film remains one of the more high profile unreleased projects tied to Nicolas Cage, whose recent work has continued to draw attention across streaming platforms.

The Financial and Legal Stakes for Netflix

The producers argue that the film’s value has effectively been destroyed because distributors are unlikely to purchase a film that could surface on piracy sites at any time. The lawsuit states it is not fathomable that a sophisticated buyer would invest tens of millions of dollars to acquire and market a film while facing the constant risk that it could appear online to be viewed widely for free.

The plaintiffs accuse Netflix of failing to properly secure a digital master of the film and later attempting to minimize the seriousness of the incident. The suit alleges the incident caused significant harm to the film’s commercial value, marketing strategy and distribution opportunities.

The lawsuit also alleges that Netflix has not disclosed whether it filed a police report to investigate the alleged theft. No evidence has been presented publicly showing that a copy of ‘Fortitude’ has actually appeared online, though the plaintiffs maintain the exposure itself has caused lasting damage.

Netflix’s Response to the Allegations

Netflix has strongly denied wrongdoing and maintains that the filmmakers voluntarily delivered the movie without industry standard security protections in place. The company has said its ongoing monitoring efforts have not identified any unauthorized distribution of the film so far.

Netflix has also pushed back on how the dispute has been handled, saying it has withheld details from its internal investigation because of what it described as hostile attempts to extort money from the company, while alleging that Afram initially demanded 165 million dollars before ultimately filing the current suit seeking 105 million dollars. That figure gap has become a notable point of contention as the case moves forward.

The dispute puts a spotlight on how streaming platforms manage sensitive, unreleased content during the acquisition process, a stage where films are especially vulnerable before wide release. Given the scale of the damages sought and the reputational stakes for both sides, the case is likely to draw continued industry attention as it proceeds through California federal court.

For a producer who spent seven years and tens of millions of dollars bringing ‘Fortitude’ to life, the outcome of this case could determine whether the film ever reaches audiences the way it was intended to. What do you make of Netflix’s handling of an unreleased Nicolas Cage film, and should streaming platforms be held to a higher standard when screening projects they haven’t yet acquired?