Streaming giant Netflix has been sued for $105 million after losing an unencrypted copy of a film producer's World War II film Fortitude, featuring Nicolas Cage and Ben Kingsley.

Swiss businessman Simon Afram wrote the script and spent seven long years and $45 million to bring it to the screen, Variety reported, citing his lawsuit.

The complaint further stated that an associate producer dropped off a digital cinema package at Netflix's headquarters in June for the company's consideration of buying the rights. However, Netflix turned unresponsive when the producer tried to retrieve the film, only to later acknowledge that it was stolen.

"This is a first for us. Unfortunately, someone stole several drives from our office desks this past week. We've been working through this with our security teams to no luck," wrote Sean Berney, director of the original film at Netflix, as quoted by Variety.

Fortitude is known for its troubled history. Earlier in 2023, Afram sued filmmaker Martin Scorsese, accusing him of pocketing $500,000 to serve as an executive producer and then doing nothing to help get the project off the ground. At the time, Scorsese's lawyers countersued, arguing that Afram was a newcomer to the industry with unrealistic expectations. The parties settled out of court the following year.

"Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards," the company said in a statement.

Published - August 02, 2026 01:22 pm IST