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Netflix is being sued for $105 million by a production company which claims that the streamer lost a hard drive containing an unreleased Nicolas Cage movie titled Fortitude.
The lawsuit filed yesterday in California federal court by writer-producer Simon Afram and his company, Op-Fortitude, accuses Netflix of compromising the sale of the World War II thriller.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that a copy of the film was on one of several hard drives stolen from Netflix offices in Los Angeles last month.
In a statement to THR, the streaming giant denied all claims made against them.
“Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” a company spokesperson said. “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. This includes conducting a thorough investigation and offering to monitor known piracy sites for any unauthorized distribution or sale.”
According to the lawsuit, Netflix requested screening material and an encrypted copy was delivered for a screening on 15 June, before it is stated that a Netflix executive got in touch to inform the producers that the drive was stolen.
“Unfortunately, someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week,” wrote Sean Berney, Netflix’s head of film acquisitions, in an email on 25 June that was quoted by the lawsuit. “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.”
Netflix is accused of failing to disclose details of whether a police report was initially filed. The lawsuit claims that any future sale of the film has now been put in jeopardy.
“Through its mishandling of the film and subsequent dismissiveness, Netflix has jeopardized plaintiffs’ investment of over $45m and the significant value of the film itself,” the lawsuit said, according to Page Six. “Netflix has also deprived the film, its cast and its creators of the opportunity to bring their work to market and receive recognition that a properly marketed worldwide release likely would have generated.”
Fortitude was directed by Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Bride Hard) and is based on the true story of British intelligence officers who incorporated unique strategic operations to fool Nazi leadership. It also stars Matthew Goode, Michael Sheen and Ben Kingsley.
“I spent seven years of my life bringing this incredible true story to the screen,” Afram said in a statement. “But this film was never mine alone. It belongs to the extraordinary cast and their performances of a lifetime that deserve to be seen and recognized. It represents the moment these artists have earned.”