{"id":644882,"date":"2026-08-01T14:54:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=644882"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:54:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:54:03","slug":"netflix-sued-for-105m-over-alleged-stolen-master-copy-of-unreleased-nicolas-cage-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=644882","title":{"rendered":"Netflix sued for $105M over alleged \u2018stolen\u2019 master copy of unreleased Nicolas Cage film"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Netflix was sued in a California federal court on Thursday for losing the \u201cmaster copy\u201d of a Nicholas Cage film.<\/p>\n

Filed by writer-producer Simon Afram and his U.K.-based production company, Op-Fortitude, the suit accuses Netflix of compromising future sales of \u201cFortitude,\u201d an upcoming World War II spy thriller starring Nicholas Cage, by losing a copy of the movie that\u2019d been shared for screening.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn unencrypted master copy of the movie was in one of several drives that were stolen from Netflix\u2019s office last month,\u201d according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\u2757\"Netflix is facing a $105M lawsuit<\/p>\n

This comes after producers claim it lost an unencrypted copy of the unreleased Nicolas Cage WWII thriller \u201cFortitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Reports Netflix only offered to pay for the cost of the drive pic.twitter.com\/ti4coUXY6c<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Montiero (@Mhr_Wills) July 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Netflix has denied being at fault.<\/p>\n

\u201cNetflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,\u201d a company spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we do not own the rights to \u2018Fortitude,\u2019 we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team. This includes conducting a thorough investigation and offering to monitor known piracy sites for any unauthorized distribution or sale,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Netflix executives \u201cfirst expressed interest in purchasing Fortitude after receiving promotional materials in December 2025.\u201d They later requested \u201ca working cut in June.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, the company \u201cinstructed the filmmakers to provide the key to what\u2019s called a digital cinema package \u2014 a vehicle through which films are delivered for screening that limits unauthorized access \u2014 so the company could internally test the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

On June 15, when a producer for \u201cFortitude\u201d hand-delivered the drive to Netflix\u2019s Los Angeles office, the producer said that the digital cinema package (DCP) was unencrypted and requested that the files on the drive be deleted after the movie was screened and tested.<\/p>\n

Ten days later, the producer learned from Netflix that the drive had been stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a first for us,\u201d Sean Berney, Netflix\u2019s head of film acquisitions, wrote in a June 25 email. \u201cUnfortunately, someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week. We\u2019ve been working through this with our security teams to no luck. Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit filed Thursday<\/a> casts doubt on Netflix\u2019s whole narrative from top to bottom.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the theft, however, both Netflix and its attorneys have refused to answer any questions about the circumstances of the theft, their supposed investigation, the disposition of the DCP, or even whether Netflix had filed a police report,\u201d the lawsuit reads. \u201cNetflix\u2019s attorneys, too, have attempted recharacterize the DCP as \u2018missing,\u2019 rather than \u2018stolen.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese obfuscations and efforts to change the narrative of the stolen DCP have caused Plaintiffs to suspect that Netflix is suppressing, hiding, and potentially spoliating information and evidence that is highly relevant to the location, disposition, and value of Plaintiffs\u2019 unique and tremendously valuable asset,\u201d the lawsuit continues.<\/p>\n

Netflix has, for its part, alleged that it stopped sharing information about the investigation into the theft after a law firm representing Afram tried to \u201cextort money\u201d by demanding $165 million for the movie.<\/p>\n

In his suit, Afram maintains that the theft that occurred under Netflix\u2019s watch has made it significantly harder to sell the movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs cannot, consistent with their legal, professional, and ethical obligations, market the Film without disclosing the theft and the resulting loss of exclusive control over the Film,\u201d the suit reads. \u201cAny such disclosure necessarily diminishes the Film\u2019s value and negotiating leverage with prospective purchasers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit goes on to blame Netflix\u2019s negligence for the problems Afram\u2019s company is facing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs were compelled to temporarily pause their marketing and sales of the Film, despite there being tremendous interest from multiple studios and distributors, both domestic and foreign,\u201d the suit reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe delay caused by pausing sales efforts results in lost opportunities for Plaintiffs, impairment of Plaintiffs\u2019 negotiation leverage, and disruption of the Film\u2019s release strategy and qualification for awards in this calendar year,\u201d it continues.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix was sued in a California federal court on Thursday for losing the \u201cmaster copy\u201d of a Nicholas Cage film. Filed by writer-producer Simon Afram and his U.K.-based production company, Op-Fortitude, the suit accuses Netflix of compromising future sales of \u201cFortitude,\u201d an upcoming World War II spy thriller starring Nicholas Cage, by losing a copy… Continue reading Netflix sued for $105M over alleged \u2018stolen\u2019 master copy of unreleased Nicolas Cage film<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":644883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-644882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=644882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/644883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=644882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=644882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=644882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}