A Swiss producer and his production company have filed a $105 million lawsuit against Netflix, claiming the streaming giant lost an unencrypted master copy of an unreleased World War II thriller starring Nicolas Cage and thereby destroyed the film’s commercial value. The complaint was filed in late July 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by Simon Afram and Op-Fortitude Ltd. It centers on the movie Fortitude.
Directed by Simon West, known for Con Air and The Expendables 2, the film is a spy thriller based on the real-life Allied deception campaign known as Operation Fortitude during World War II. It stars Cage as real-life double agent Duško Popov, alongside Ben Kingsley, Ron Perlman and others. Afram, who wrote the script and financed the project, invested more than $45 million of his own money over seven years to bring it to the screen.
Netflix expressed interest after receiving promotional materials in late 2025 and requested a working copy for internal screening in June 2026. On June 15, associate producer Daniel Haido hand-delivered an unencrypted Digital Cinema Package, a high-quality master screening copy, to Netflix’s offices at Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles. The producers instructed Netflix staff to delete the files after the screening and notify them when the drive was ready for pickup. The film was screened the following day.
Nine or ten days later, on June 25, Netflix’s director of original film Sean Berney emailed the producers. The message stated that someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week, including the one containing Fortitude. Berney described the incident as a first for us and noted that the company’s security and piracy teams were investigating and monitoring for leaks. The plaintiffs argue that Netflix failed to secure the drive properly by leaving it unattended on an office desk.
They contend that the theft has permanently compromised the film’s exclusivity. Because an unencrypted master copy is now potentially in unknown hands, the risk of it appearing on piracy sites makes it nearly impossible to sell distribution rights to other buyers. Distributors will not invest tens of millions in acquisition and marketing while facing the constant threat of free online availability. The lawsuit seeks at least $105 million in damages, citing the production costs, projected revenues and lost opportunities for international sales and awards campaigns.
Netflix has strongly disputed the claims. The company said it disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards. Netflix noted that it does not own the rights to Fortitude, takes content security seriously, has conducted an investigation and is monitoring piracy sites. The company has also accused the plaintiffs’ lawyers of making hostile attempts to extract money, including an earlier demand of $165 million, rather than cooperating in good faith.
Sources close to Netflix have indicated that other stolen drives were empty and that no evidence of a leak has surfaced so far. The case highlights ongoing tensions in Hollywood over the secure handling of unreleased content in an era of digital piracy. As of early August 2026, the lawsuit remains in its early stages, with both sides maintaining their positions. Whether the theft ultimately impacts Fortitude’s path to audiences or results in a significant payout will depend on the court proceedings ahead.
