Netflix Faces $105 Million Lawsuit Over Missing Master Copy of Unreleased Nicolas Cage Film: ‘Significant Amount of Drives Stolen’

Netflix is facing a lawsuit for approximately $105 million in a California federal court, brought by the writer and producer of the upcoming Nicolas Cage film, *Fortitude*. This legal action follows the streaming service’s confirmation that an unreleased master copy of the film was stolen when “someone took a significant number of drives” from its Sunset Bronson Studios office in Los Angeles.

According to reports, Simon Afram and his production company, Op-Fortitude, filed the lawsuit on July 30. The plaintiffs claim that a master copy of the historical World War II film was delivered to Netflix’s LA office on June 15, as the company had shown interest in acquiring the distribution rights.

In an email from Sean Berney, Netflix’s Head of Film Acquisitions, dated June 25, the company acknowledged the theft: “This is a first for us… Unfortunately, someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week. We’ve been working through this with our security teams to no luck. Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor.”

The lawsuit alleges that Netflix did not involve the Los Angeles Police Department in its internal investigation. While Netflix has not commented on the ongoing lawsuit, the law firm representing the company referred to Op-Fortitude’s claims as a “hostile attempt to extort money.”

Currently, *Fortitude* has no scheduled release date, partly because there is no distributor attached to the project. The producers have stated in the lawsuit that the theft of the master copy could jeopardize their ability to sell it to another distribution company. As of now, the film has not surfaced on any torrent sites, and no suspects have been identified.