Netflix faces a $105 million lawsuit over a lost unencrypted master of "Fortitude," a $45 million Nicolas Cage WWII thriller that was seven years in the making, leaving the film vulnerable to piracy and leaks. Op-Fortitude Ltd. and its owner, Swiss financier and movie producer Simon Afram, brought the suit, seeking damages and alleging that Netflix concealed the security breach. The complaint says the lost drive eliminated the film's chance at a controlled first release and diminished its commercial value, forcing the production team to temporarily pause marketing and sales ahead of awards season.
At issue is a private screening that Netflix supposedly asked for sometime between late 2025 and mid-2026. The filmmakers say Netflix asked for an unlocked, unencrypted version so the screening would go smoothly. Netflix denies that, saying security protections are routine and the producers gave them an unprotected copy by choice.
The lawsuit says the production team told Netflix in conversation and in emails that the drive was not encrypted and told it to wipe the files from the projection system once the screening ended. The unencrypted master arrived at Netflix's Hollywood lot on June 15, 2026, and Netflix showed the film on June 16. According to the plaintiffs, Netflix then left the unprotected file sitting on an office desk with no physical or digital safeguards, and it vanished.
The complaint says Netflix tried to hide the loss by putting off or disregarding the plaintiffs' requests to retrieve the drive from June 17 through June 25. They say that only on June 25 did a Netflix executive email them with the message: "someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week."
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Netflix rejects those claims, stating that once its employees learned what had happened, it notified the relevant parties. The company also says it bears no responsibility, maintaining that the movie was delivered without the usual digital locks or secure file protections. Netflix also accused the plaintiffs of "hostile attempts to extort money from Netflix over this situation."
"Fortitude" drew from Operation Fortitude, the real WWII Allied trickery meant to make Nazi Germany think D-Day would land somewhere else. The operation used a phantom army, double agents, and bogus radio transmissions.
The lawsuit's central argument is that the security failure was severe because the file was unencrypted and could be copied freely. Test screenings, the complaint says, produced an 82% "top-two box" score, meaning 82% of audience members gave it one of the two highest ratings. Even a cautious estimate put projected revenue at $112.5 million, about 2.5 times the production budget. The plaintiffs say that losing the only unprotected master made the movie effectively impossible to launch in a controlled way, and that a leak or pirated copy could destroy the commercial value they had hoped to bank on.
The plaintiffs say Netflix played down the loss by insisting the missing drive was locked and needed an encryption key, even though Netflix knew it was unprotected. The suit also says Netflix's only reimbursement offer was for the drive itself, and it called the item "missing" instead of "stolen."
Netflix, meanwhile, says the plaintiffs first asked for $165 million for the movie instead of cooperating. Netflix told FOX Business in a statement: "Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards." The company continued: "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."
Netflix and its lawyers, the plaintiffs add, sidestepped key questions about the company's internal probe, including whether anyone had filed a police report, and the Los Angeles Police Department got no help from Netflix once the filmmakers turned in their own report. Netflix answered that it held back information about the probe because of what it called the plaintiffs' behavior.
Netflix's stock was listed at $71.71, down 1.46 points, or 2.00%.
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