Netflix is being sued for $105m (£78m) by a film producer after a copy of an unreleased Nicolas Cage film was stolen from its Hollywood studios.
An unencrypted master copy of Fortitude, a wartime drama starring the Leaving Las Vegas and Moonstruck actor, went missing soon after being delivered last month, Netflix said.
The value of the film, set during the Second World War, has been “destroyed” because of the theft, producer Simon Afram said in legal action launched in California on Wednesday.
Distributors are unlikely to buy a film that could appear on piracy sites, Mr Afram’s legal team said, and Netflix should have better secured the unencrypted hard drive on which it was stored.
Cage promoting The Surfer at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Pic: Reuters© Reuters
The producer, who put $45m (£33.4m) of his own money into the project, which took seven years to complete, was in the process of trying to sell it either to Netflix or another distributor.
He sent the film to Netflix last month at the streaming giant’s request, the case said.
Nine days later, Netflix emailed the plaintiffs saying “someone stole a good amount of drives from our desks this past week,” including the one containing Fortitude, the lawsuit said.
Mr Afram’s lawyers said it was “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 said in a statement it “disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards.
“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,” including investigating the theft and monitoring piracy sites for unauthorised distribution of the film,” the company said.
The streamer, whose estimated market value is more than $304bn (£226bn), also said it had not shared information on the investigation with Mr Afram’s lawyers because of their “hostile attempts to extort money from Netflix over this situation … rather than work with us in good faith.”
