Netflix sued for $105m over stolen Nicolas Cage war thriller

Netflix is being sued for $105m over the theft of a hard drive including an unreleased Nicolas Cage war movie.

The streamer’s Los Angeles office was the target of a theft involving a number of hard drives, one of which contained a copy of second world war spy thriller Fortitude.

The makers of the $45m-budgeted film are now suing Netflix over the loss.

“Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” a spokesperson said in a statement shared with the Hollywood Reporter. “While we do not own the rights to Fortitude, we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the film-maker and his team. This includes conducting a thorough investigation and offering to monitor known piracy sites for any unauthorized distribution or sale.”

Netflix reportedly received a copy of the film in June after expressing interest in promotional materials at the end of last year. A digital copy was then sent so the film could be screened internally with the film’s producers instructing Netflix to delete the files afterward.

Sean Berney, head of Netflix film acquisitions, wrote in an email that it was a first for the company to be the subject of such a theft. “We’ve been working through this with our security teams to no luck,” he added. “Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor.”

Netflix is accused of failing to disclose details of whether a police report was initially filed as well as later declining a request by the film-makers to involve the LAPD after they filed their own report.

The lawsuit claims that any future sale of the film has now been put in jeopardy with any international release strategy and awards campaign paused.