Streaming giant Netflix has been sued for USD 105 million after losing an unencrypted copy of a film producer’s World War II film ‘Fortitude’, featuring Nicolas Cage and Ben Kingsley, reported Variety.
Swiss businessman Simon Afram wrote the script and spent seven long years, along with USD 45 million, to bring it to the screen, Variety report added, citing his lawsuit.
The complaint further stated that an associate producer dropped off a digital cinema package at Netflix headquarters in June for the company’s consideration to buy 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 a good amount of 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 USD 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 and argued 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.
