Netflix is facing a $105 million lawsuit from film producer Simon Afram and his company Op-Fortitude, who allege the streaming service lost a hard drive containing an unencrypted master copy of an unreleased Nicolas Cage war film titled "Fortitude." The producer claims this loss has significantly harmed the film's marketability and value.
According to the legal complaint filed in California, Afram delivered the unencrypted master copy of the film to Netflix's Los Angeles office on June 15 for evaluation purposes. Afram instructed Netflix officials to ensure the drive was deleted after screening. However, an email from a Netflix executive to associate producer Daniel Haido on June 25 stated that the hard drive had been stolen from office desks the previous week.
Afram's attorneys argue that the film's value was heavily reliant on its exclusivity as a new, unreleased work. They contend that by losing control of the master copy, Netflix destroyed this exclusivity, thereby materially impairing the film's marketability. The lawsuit asserts that a sophisticated buyer would be hesitant to invest millions in acquiring and marketing a film that could potentially appear online for free at any time.
Netflix, however, disputes the claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without industry-standard safeguards. A Netflix spokesperson stated, "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." These measures include conducting a thorough investigation and offering to monitor piracy sites for unauthorized distribution.
Sources at Netflix indicated that it is standard practice to share films via secure, password-protected links or Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) secured with Key Delivery Messages (KDMs) to limit access and prevent loss. These sources claim that the producers of "Fortitude" elected to share an unencrypted DCP, which lacked these protective measures.
Afram stated in the filing that the motion picture cost $45 million to produce over seven years. The film is based on the World War II mission "Operation Fortitude," which involved double agents working with British and Allied forces to deceive Adolf Hitler. The movie was directed by Simon West and features a cast including Sir Ben Kingsley, Ron Perlman, Matthew Goode, Michael Sheen, Art Malik, Jordi Mollà, and Lukas Haas.