Netflix Sued for $105M After Losing Copy of Simon Stone’s WWII Epic ‘Fortitude,’ Starring Nic Cage

According to THR, Netflix is facing a $105M lawsuit after filmmakers behind the unreleased World War II thriller “Fortitude,” starring Nicolas Cage, accused the streamer of losing an unencrypted copy of the film during a theft at its Los Angeles office — potentially compromising the movie’s future distribution.

“Fortitude,” directed by Simon West, is a World War II spy thriller based on British intelligence operations designed to deceive Nazi leadership. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Matthew Goode, Ed Skrein, Jordi Mollà, and Alice Eve.

The filmmakers behind “Fortitude,” including writer Simon Afram, claim Netflix mishandled a screening copy of the film that was delivered to the company during acquisition talks. The filmmakers argue that the stolen drive has damaged the film’s value because any potential distributor must now be informed that an unsecured copy of the movie was taken before release.

Netflix, however, is pushing back: “We dispute any claim that we bear the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” a Netflix spokesperson said, adding that the company takes content security seriously and has investigated the incident.

According to the lawsuit, Netflix began exploring a potential acquisition of “Fortitude” after receiving promo materials in December 2025, later requesting a working cut of the film in June. A producer then hand-delivered an unencrypted digital cinema package to Netflix’s Sunset Bronson Studios office on June 15, allegedly warning the company to delete the files after the screening. Ten days later, Netflix informed the filmmakers that the drive had been stolen, and they had not deleted the files.

“Fortitude” marks West’s return to the kind of large-scale action filmmaking that made him known for “Con Air” — though his filmography also includes plenty of critical misfires. The project represents a potential artistic comeback of sorts for the filmmaker, although I remain skeptical.

The screenplay was written by Simon Afram (“Lear Rex”), who also serves as a producer, and this is not the first time Afram has made headlines over “Fortitude.” A few years ago, he famously sued Martin Scorsese, alleging that the director accepted $500,000 to support his “Fortitude” script but failed to take further action. Afram claimed Scorsese ignored him, while the director’s team argued that Afram was inexperienced and misunderstood the lengthy development process. The lawsuit was quietly settled nearly a year later.

West is the man behind “Con Air,” his only truly good film, “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” and a long string of forgettable action movies. Fun fact: that 25% Rotten Tomatoes score for his last release, “Bride Hard,” is not even a career low — he has had films hit zero, with several others landing below 20%. The man has range, but unfortunately, it is often the wrong kind. How he managed to assemble “Fortitude” with such a talented cast remains something of a mystery.