{"id":22668,"date":"2026-07-31T03:11:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22668"},"modified":"2026-07-31T03:11:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:11:53","slug":"producer-sues-netflix-over-theft-of-hard-drive-of-fortitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22668","title":{"rendered":"Producer Sues Netflix Over Theft Of Hard Drive Of &#8216;Fortitude&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe producer behind the World War II spy thriller <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/fortitude\/\" id=\"auto-tag_fortitude\" data-tag=\"fortitude\">Fortitude<\/a> <\/em>has filed suit against <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/netflix\/\" id=\"auto-tag_netflix\" data-tag=\"netflix\">Netflix<\/a>, claiming that it bears responsibility for the theft of the hard drive of the upcoming film after it was delivered to the streamer\u2019s headquarters for screening and possible purchase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/lawsuit\/\" id=\"auto-tag_lawsuit\" data-tag=\"lawsuit\">lawsuit<\/a> filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeks damages of at least $105 million.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tIn the complaint (read it <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Op-Fortitude-Complaint_Redacted.pdf\">here<\/a>), <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/simon-afram\/\" id=\"auto-tag_simon-afram\" data-tag=\"simon-afram\">Simon Afram<\/a>, the producer, writer and financier, and production company Op-Fortitude Limited claim they had an unencrypted digital cinema package of the film delivered to Netflix for a potential purchase, with the instruction to delete the files after screening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe lawsuit claims that after screening the film around June 16, Netflix \u201cfailed to provide the promised instructions for picking up the unencrypted DCP for over a week. Instead, on the afternoon of June 25, 2026, a Netflix executive emailed Plaintiffs with the subject line \u2018Stolen PCP,\u2019 referring to Plaintiffs\u2019 unencrypted DCP, and wrote, \u2018someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe Netflix executive said that they had been working with security teams with \u201cno luck\u201d but that <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/piracy\/\" id=\"auto-tag_piracy\" data-tag=\"piracy\">piracy<\/a> teams were \u201con high alert,\u2019 according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<strong>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/07\/amazon-poaching-lawsuit-warner-bros-discovery-pia-barlow-1237002763\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1237002763\">Amazon Hit With Poaching Lawsuit By Warner Bros Discovery Over Hire Of HBO Max Marketing Exec Pia Barlow<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cNetflix\u2019s email indicated that Netflix had known about the theft of the DCP for potentially a full week without ever advising Plaintiffs that Netflix had allowed Plaintiffs\u2019 DCP, which cost over $45 million to make, to be stolen right off a Netflix desk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe executive assured that the stolen drive likely would be \u201csold for scrap given that they require\u201d a key to unlock an encrypted DCP, according to the lawsuit. But, Afram claimed, \u201cNetflix knew the DCP was unencrypted and could be opened, viewed, published, copied or distributed without any key.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe lawsuit also claimed that Netflix has refused to disclose whether it filed a police report or whether it had enlisted the help of a law enforcement agency. The lawsuit claimed that on Tuesday, Netflix refused their request to involve \u201cthe Los Angeles Police Department, with which Plaintiffs had filed a report regarding the theft, in Netflix\u2019s private investigation of the theft.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe film, directed by Simon West, is based on the true story of British Intelligence operatives using unprecedented strategic operations to fool Nazi leadership and help change the course of World War II.\u00a0The cast includes Nicolas Cage as Dusko Popov, a real-life double agent who is said to have inspired Ian Fleming\u2019s James Bond character, as well as Matthew Goode, Ben Kingsley, Ron Perlman and Michael Sheen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tA Netflix spokesperson said that the company \u201cdisputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards. While we do not own the rights to <em>Fortitude<\/em>, we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team. This includes conducting a thorough investigation and offering to monitor known piracy sites for any unauthorized distribution or sale. We have declined to share anything about our ongoing investigation with the law firm representing Simon Afram, given their hostile attempts to extort money from Netflix over this situation \u2013 including immediately demanding $165 million for the film rather than work with us in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tA source at the company says that they have seen no evidence that the film has been leaked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe lawsuit claims conversion, breach of bailment contract and breach of implied contract.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The producer behind the World War II spy thriller Fortitude has filed suit against Netflix, claiming that it bears responsibility for the theft of the hard drive of the upcoming film after it was delivered to the streamer\u2019s headquarters for screening and possible purchase. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Netflix-office.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}