Swiss producer Simon Afram filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accusing Netflix of breach of contract over the disappearance of the digital master of Fortitude. The film had been delivered to Netflix for a distribution review after the company expressed interest in acquiring the project.
According to the lawsuit, an unencrypted digital cinema package of the film was hand-delivered to Netflix on June 15. Executives reportedly screened the movie the following day, but the filmmakers were not informed until nine days later that the hard drive containing the film had disappeared.
Court documents include a June 25 email from Netflix Original Film director Sean Berney, who described the incident as unprecedented for the company.
“Unfortunately, someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week,” Berney wrote. “Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor, but they are likely just selling the drives for scrap.”
The lawsuit alleges Netflix may have known about the theft for up to a week before informing the filmmakers. Afram’s legal team argues that Netflix’s reported offer to reimburse the cost of a replacement hard drive, estimated at about $800, falls far short of the losses associated with a film that cost more than $45 million to produce.
The complaint contends that the disappearance of the master copy jeopardises the film’s commercial prospects, arguing that its exclusivity and market value have been compromised before release.
“The resulting damage to Plaintiffs is profound,” the lawsuit states, adding that the incident deprived the filmmakers and cast of the opportunity to bring the project to audiences through a properly marketed global release.
Directed by Simon West, who previously collaborated with Cage on Con Air, Fortitude tells the story of Duško Popov, the real-life World War II double agent widely believed to have inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond character. The cast also includes Ben Kingsley, Ron Perlman, Matthew Goode, Michael Sheen and Alice Eve.
Afram said he spent seven years developing the project and described the film as featuring the “performance of a lifetime” from its cast.
The producer is seeking $105 million in damages, a figure the lawsuit says is based on the film’s production budget and projected earnings, arguing that successful films often generate revenues worth at least 2.5 times their production costs.
Netflix has denied liability, arguing that the film was submitted without industry-standard security protections because the digital copy was not encrypted.
In a statement, the company said it takes content security seriously and has conducted an investigation while monitoring piracy sites for any unauthorised distribution of the film.
“Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” the company said.
Netflix also rejected the producer’s claims, characterising the lawsuit as a “hostile” attempt to extract money from the company. It alleged that Afram’s legal team initially demanded $165 million and said it had declined to share details of its internal investigation while the matter remains under review.
Despite the missing hard drive, Netflix said it has found no evidence that Fortitude has been leaked online. As of now, there is no indication that the unreleased film has surfaced on piracy platforms.
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