The producer of an unreleased Nicolas Cage spy thriller has sued Netflix for $105 million after a hard drive containing the film’s master copy was stolen from the streaming company’s Los Angeles office.
Producer and screenwriter Simon Afram and his company Op-Fortitude filed the lawsuit on July 30 in federal court in California, according to Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter.
Afram’s lawyers said that in June the filmmakers delivered an unencrypted master copy of the World War Two spy thriller Fortitude to Netflix at the company’s request. Nine days later, Netflix informed them by email that several hard drives had been stolen from its Hollywood office, including the one containing Fortitude.
Afram invested more than $45 million in the production, and work on the film spanned seven years. He is currently seeking to sell the film to Netflix or another distributor.
The plaintiffs argue that the loss of the master copy has effectively destroyed the film’s commercial value, because potential buyers fear that pirated versions could surface. They are seeking $105 million in compensation.
Netflix said it disputes any suggestion that the company bears responsibility for the loss of a film that was delivered without proper industry-standard protections.
