Michael Sheen film ‘Fortitude’ caught in $105m lawsuit after master copy theft

Netflix denies liability while producer says missing unencrypted drive damaged wartime thriller's commercial prospects

A new Second World War espionage film starring Michael Sheen has become the centre of a high stakes legal dispute after an unreleased master copy was reportedly stolen from Netflix's Los Angeles offices. The producer behind Fortitude is seeking at least $105m in damages, arguing that the loss has seriously undermined the film's commercial value before its release.

Fortitude features an ensemble cast including Michael Sheen, Nicolas Cage, Ben Kingsley, Matthew Goode, Ron Perlman, Alice Eve and Lukas Haas. Directed by Simon West, whose previous credits include Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, the film is inspired by the Allied deception campaign that helped pave the way for the D Day landings during the Second World War.

According to a lawsuit filed in California, producer and writer Simon Afram and his company Op Fortitude delivered an unencrypted digital cinema package containing the completed film to Netflix on June 15, 2026. The streaming company was reportedly considering acquiring distribution rights for the project.

The complaint states that associate producer Daniel Haido personally delivered the storage drive to Netflix's Hollywood offices. In the days that followed, members of the production team allegedly made repeated attempts to recover the drive. According to the lawsuit, Netflix informed them on June 25 that several storage drives had been stolen from desks within its offices, including the one containing Fortitude.

Afram argues that the disappearance of the master copy has created significant uncertainty around the film's future. The lawsuit claims that distributors may now hesitate to invest substantial sums in acquiring and marketing the film because of the possibility that an unreleased copy could surface online through piracy.

Court filings state that it is unrealistic to expect a buyer to commit tens of millions of dollars to a project if there is a continuing risk that audiences could gain free access through an unauthorised leak before or during its release.

Afram has said he personally invested more than $45m in producing Fortitude, a project that reportedly took seven years to complete. The lawsuit alleges that Netflix failed to provide adequate security for the drive and should therefore bear responsibility for the resulting financial losses.

Netflix has rejected those allegations. In a statement responding to the legal action, the company said it disputes any suggestion that it assumed responsibility for the loss of a film delivered without what it described as proper industry standard safeguards.

The streaming company also emphasised that it does not own the rights to Fortitude. Netflix said it treats content security seriously, investigated the reported theft and has monitored piracy websites for any unauthorised appearance of the film. As of now, there has been no confirmed public leak of the stolen master copy.

Netflix has also accused Afram's legal representatives of attempting to pressure the company financially rather than working cooperatively to resolve the situation. Those claims are likely to form part of the broader legal proceedings as the case moves forward.