Writer-producer Simon Afram and his company claim the theft has jeopardised the sale of the film, Fortitude, directed by Simon West and starring Nicolas Cage, Matthew Goode and Alice Eve.

According to the lawsuit, filmmakers hand-delivered an unencrypted master copy to Netflix in June after the streaming giant requested a screening. They allege Netflix was instructed to delete the files after viewing and return the drive.

Ten days later, Netflix informed them the drive had been stolen along with several others from its offices.

A Netflix spokesperson said the company disputes liability, arguing the film had been delivered without “proper industry-standard safeguards”. It said it had investigated the incident and was monitoring piracy sites for any unauthorised distribution.

The filmmakers claim the theft has made the film significantly harder to sell because potential distributors must now be told an unencrypted copy remains missing, raising concerns over piracy, insurance and marketing.