An unreleased Nicolas Cage film has become the centre of a $105 million legal battle after its master copy went missing from Netflix's Los Angeles offices — a theft the streaming giant's own executive has described as the first of its kind at the company.

UK-based production company Op Fortitude Ltd. and producer Simon Afram filed the lawsuit in a California federal court, alleging Netflix lost a hard drive containing the master copy of Fortitude, a $45 million World War II espionage thriller, following an internal screening at Netflix's offices in June.

How the Drive Went Missing

According to the lawsuit, associate producer Daniel Haido personally delivered an unencrypted master copy of the film to Netflix on 15 June, after the streaming company expressed interest in acquiring it. The filmmakers say they instructed Netflix to delete the files once the screening concluded on 16 June. Instead, they claim, the drive was left sitting on an office desk.

A man in a dark suit driving a vintage dark green open-top car with a woman in period costume and a decorated hat seated beside him, on a wet rural road surrounded by autumn trees.
Nicolas Cage and Jenny Watwood appear in a scene from Fortitude.

When the producers followed up about the drive's return, Netflix reportedly delayed responding — then informed them on 25 June that several hard drives had been stolen from the office. Netflix executive Sean Berney is said to have acknowledged it was the first theft of this kind at the company, with security teams subsequently monitoring piracy websites for any sign of the film surfacing online.

Netflix said the filmmakers chose to provide an unencrypted version despite industry-standard security practices, and later demanded $165 million instead of working cooperatively.

The producers, however, argue that the loss of the drive has already damaged the film's commercial prospects — with potential buyers now wary that an unauthorised copy could appear online at any moment. They estimate Fortitude could have earned at least $112.5 million, buoyed by strong test screening scores, but have since been forced to pause all marketing, awards campaigning, and international sales activity.

A Star-Studded Production Caught in Limbo

The stakes are considerable. Fortitude, directed by Simon West and inspired by the real wartime Operation Fortitude, boasts a genuinely impressive ensemble: Nicolas Cage leads the cast alongside Matthew Goode, Michael Sheen, Ben Kingsley, and Ron Perlman. It is the kind of prestige film that, under ordinary circumstances, would be generating serious awards season buzz.

A grid of six celebrity headshots: top row left to right, a middle-aged man in a black sparkly blazer at a green-backdrop event, a dark-haired man in a tuxedo at a black event backdrop, and a bald older man in a dark suit jacket; bottom row left to right, a young dark-haired man in a black jacket at an Into Film backdrop, a blonde woman in a dark structured dress at a Star Trek Into Darkness event backdrop, and a curly-haired bearded man in a blue suit at a Union Jack-themed backdrop.
L-R: Nicolas Cage, Matthew Goode, Ben Kingsley, Ed Skrein, Alice Eve, and Michael Sheen

Instead, its future hangs in the balance while lawyers wrangle over who is responsible for a missing hard drive.

Netflix Pushes Back

Netflix has denied liability across the board. The company's position is that the filmmakers voluntarily supplied an unencrypted copy of the film without the security protections standard across the industry — and that doing so transferred responsibility onto the production. Netflix says it has conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence that Fortitude has been leaked anywhere online.

The producers of Fortitude paused marketing, sales, and awards plans, despite estimating the movie could earn at least $112.5 million after receiving strong test screening scores.

The lawsuit also takes aim at Netflix's conduct following the theft, alleging the company failed to clearly explain its internal investigation, did not confirm whether a police report had been filed, and did not cooperate with the Los Angeles Police Department after the filmmakers contacted authorities directly.

On the left, a man with salt-and-pepper hair wearing a light grey blazer over a white open-collar shirt poses against a beige studio backdrop; on the right, an older man with short grey hair wearing a dark blazer over a light blue button-up shirt smiles in front of a Netflix-branded backdrop.
Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos serve as co-CEOs of Netflix, jointly leading the streaming giant.

With $105 million being sought in damages — and the film's entire commercial strategy now on ice — the case looks set to become one of the more unusual legal dramas in recent entertainment industry memory. Whether Fortitude ever reaches audiences, and in what form, remains to be seen.