Producer Simon Afram filed a lawsuit in California seeking at least $105 million in damages from Netflix over the theft of his unreleased film Fortitude.
The unreleased World War II drama, starring Nicolas Cage, took seven years to complete and cost over $45 million to produce.
Netflix rejected liability, citing a lack of industry-standard safeguards on the delivered media, and accused the producer's legal team of extortion.
Netflix Sued For $105 Million Over Missing Nicolas Cage Film From Its Office
Producer Simon Afram has sued Netflix for $105 million in California, alleging a master copy of his unreleased Nicolas Cage film 'Fortitude' was stolen from Netflix's Hollywood offices.
Summary
Producer Simon Afram filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (July 29) in California seeking at least $105mn in damages from Netflix. The legal action centres on the unreleased World War II drama Fortitude starring Nicolas Cage.
Afram invested more than $45mn in the production. The film took seven years to complete. The lawsuit alleges a master copy was stolen from the streaming company's studios in Hollywood, Reuters reported.
The alleged office theft
Filmmakers delivered an unencrypted master copy of Fortitude to Netflix in June at the company's request. The producers were negotiating a potential sale to the streaming platform or another distributor.
Nine days after delivery, Netflix notified the filmmakers via email about a security breach. The lawsuit cited the Netflix email, which informed producers that "someone stole a good amount of drives from our desks this past week". The stolen items included the drive containing the film.
Plaintiffs argue the film's commercial value has been destroyed. They said that the constant risk of piracy deters potential distributors, and argued Netflix should have better secured the hard drive.
The lawsuit stated, "It is not fathomable that a sophisticated buyer would invest tens of millions of dollars to acquire the film — and tens of millions more to market it — while facing the constant risk that it could appear online to be viewed widely for free at any time."
Netflix denies liability claims
Netflix issued a statement refuting liability for the incident. The company pointed to the lack of industry-standard safeguards on the delivered media.
The platform stated that it "disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards".
Netflix stated it has investigated the theft and monitored piracy sites despite not owning the film's rights.
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"While we do not own the rights to Fortitude, we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team," the OTT giant said.
The company admitted to withholding investigation details from Afram's attorneys. Netflix accused the legal team of extortion. The company stated it declined to share information "given their hostile attempts to extort money from Netflix over this situation...rather than work with us in good faith".
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