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Netflix Confronts $105 Million Lawsuit Regarding Lost Master Copy of Unreleased Nicolas Cage Movie Stemming from Theft of Drives

**Netflix Faces $105 Million Lawsuit Over Stolen Master Copy of Nicolas Cage Film ‘Fortitude’**

Netflix finds itself in a legal predicament in a federal court in California, contending with a lawsuit demanding around $105 million. This legal action has been initiated by Simon Afram, the writer and producer of the eagerly awaited film *Fortitude*, featuring Nicolas Cage. The conflict emerged after Netflix conceded that a master copy of the film was taken during the theft of a significant quantity of drives from its Sunset Bronson Studios office in Los Angeles.

Reports from *The Hollywood Reporter* indicate that Afram and his production company, Op-Fortitude, officially filed the lawsuit against Netflix on July 30. The master copy of *Fortitude*, a war-themed film set in World War II, had been personally delivered to Netflix’s Los Angeles office on June 15, following the company’s expressed interest in securing the distribution rights for the film.

In an email dated June 25 from Sean Berney, Netflix’s Head of Film Acquisitions, the streaming platform confirmed the incident: “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. Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor.”

The lawsuit contends that Netflix failed to engage the Los Angeles Police Department in its internal inquiry regarding the theft. On the other hand, Netflix has opted not to make any public statements concerning the active lawsuit, but the company’s legal representation criticized Op-Fortitude’s claims as a “hostile attempt to extort money.”

Currently, *Fortitude* does not have a confirmed release date, largely because the film lacks a designated distributor, a situation further complicated by the theft of the master copy. The producers assert that the theft jeopardizes their potential to sell the film to another distribution entity. Significantly, as of now, the film has not appeared on torrenting platforms, and no possible suspects in the theft have been identified.

This lawsuit underscores the growing concerns regarding security measures and intellectual property rights in the digital era, especially within the entertainment sector. As streaming services continue to expand, the imperative of protecting creative content becomes increasingly vital.

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Upcoming PC Games: Battle Royale Detective, Y2K Metaverse Challenges, Laptop Tycoon Simulation, and New Company of Heroes RTS

Hello all! Welcome to another week of sordid digital diversions, aka new PC games, dumped upon the innocent wanderer like a chamberpot upended over your head by a Victorian maid, as you saunter down an alleyway in your finest crinoline and lobster tail bustle. How are you supposed to attend the Crown Prince’s soirée in this bedraggled state? In vain do you shake your reeking fists at the chambermaid, for she is a minion of the Maw, and only squawks with glee. You totter out of the alleyway, mopping your face with your nosegay, and are promptly arrested for being a public obscenity.

Enough of this pissy period palaver! Our list of the week’s most promising new PC releases awaits. It’s a longer edition, possibly because my laptop audio stopped working halfway through the curation process, so I may have included a few extra games that sound absolutely abysmal.

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Release Date Announced for STALKER 2’s Cost of Hope Expansion and Free 2.0 Update in August

Grab your Geiger counter and your copy of The Arbinger Institute’s seminal conflict resolution handbook The Anatomy of Peace, because STALKER 2‘s faction war-y story expansion Cost of Hope has a release date. It’s out on August 20th, developers GSC Game World have announced, and will launch in tandem with the long-awaited Update 2.0 – which, among other tweaks, will move the base game over to a newer, less technically perilous version of Unreal Engine 5.

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Weekend Gaming Plans: Discovering Popular Titles Among Players

I wonder what’s going to happen when we eventually run out of crusty old public-domain drawings to put in these. Hopefully by that point the standards of what’s considered ‘old’ will have shifted and we can start using photos and video stills of, I dunno, my fourth birthday party or something. Or maybe Mark can learn woodblock printing and we can make some ourselves. Should Mark learn woodblock printing? Let us know in the comments, and also, what you’re playing this weekend.

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“Steam Game ‘Crashphalt’ Sees Unexpected Popularity Surge as Players Utilize It for Undertale Online Multiplayer”

Released back in 2018, Crashphalt is a free and eccentric multiplayer game in which players do ground-pounds to send out seismic ripples, striving to punt each other off-screen. It’s got an “overwhelmingly positive” Steam user review reception, as of writing, but that’s not entirely a judgement on its quality. You see, Crashphalt is a hit today partly because you need it to run an online multiplayer mod for Toby Fox’s wonderful RPG Undertale.

Of Crashphalt’s 555 currently existing user reviews, the vast majority were written over five years after release, and either totally disregard or cruelly dunk on Crashphalt. An example: “10/10 Funny Undertale game, will never play this.”

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“Dragon Age: Thedas at War – A Total Conversion Mod for Crusader Kings 3 Inspired by BioWare RPGs, Reviving the Series During EA Development Pause”

Who knows when or if BioWare’ll ever be allowed to make a follow-up to Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Whatever ends up being the future of a series EA’ve left in a rather ambiguous place, a group of Crusader Kings 3 modders have stepped up to make a Dragon Age total conversion that lets folks play out a bit of their own kingdom-battling history in Thedas.

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“Car Park Capital: A Visually Stunning Tycoon Game with MicroProse as Publisher”

Car Park Capital is a triumphantly unwholesome tycoon game in which you try to make an entire society utterly dependent on cars. You start with a relatively green-ish map, and do your best to tarmac it all over. A strange and unlikely prospect, I know!

When we first covered this motorist management sim last year, the options included putting up billboards to brainwash obstinate pedestrians, and selling people banana-mobiles. Since then, developer Hilko Janssen of Hilkojj Interactive has found a publisher in MicroProse. If you were hoping that MicroProse might persuade Janssen to give up on his visions of total automotive apocalypse, you were hoping in vain.

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A Comprehensive Examination of the Post-Credits Sequence in Spider-Man: Brand New Day

**Spider-Man: Brand New Day – An Examination of the Post-Credits Scene and Future Consequences**

*Spider-Man: Brand New Day* represents the newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), marking the 38th chapter. In keeping with Marvel’s custom, the film includes a post-credits scene that foreshadows future directions for the franchise. Although Tom Holland has not been officially announced to reprise his role as Spider-Man in forthcoming projects, this concluding scene offers an enticing clue that fans can anticipate his comeback.

For those wishing to steer clear of spoilers, *Brand New Day* features a single post-credits scene at the end, with no mid-credits offering. However, for viewers who have seen the film, examining the post-credits moment unveils potential noteworthy ramifications.

In the post-credits scene, we meet Ned, the best friend of Peter Parker, who has become infatuated with Spider-Man. He has created a Spidey Tracker app intended to keep tabs on the superhero’s appearances throughout New York City. The scene exudes a sense of urgency and thrill as the app alerts to a new Spider-Man sighting. Yet, the twist comes from the sighting’s location—it shows Spider-Man is currently off-world, implying he has traveled beyond Earth for unknown reasons. This revelation culminates with the classic Marvel line, “Spider-Man Will Return,” driving home the idea that Peter Parker will make his return.

While the reasons for Peter being away from Earth are not explored within *Brand New Day*, this story element likely sets up the forthcoming *Avengers: Secret Wars*. This narrative is grounded in the comics, where Doctor Doom reconstructs the multiverse into a singular realm known as Battleworld. Following this storyline, it would be logical for Spider-Man to be transported to this new domain, thereby creating the perception of his disappearance from Earth.

Additionally, *Brand New Day* showcases Spider-Man’s ties to the New Avengers, especially during an interaction with Yelena, the new Black Widow. This context raises questions about his noticeable absence during the confrontation with Doctor Doom in the upcoming *Doomsday*, with little information available regarding the film’s ensemble cast. Speculation suggests that the trailers for *Doomsday* may deliberately hide or omit certain heroes to keep audiences surprised when it premieres on December 18.

In conclusion, the post-credits scene in *Spider-Man: Brand New Day* not only hints at the character’s future but also suggests significant plot developments in the broader MCU. As fans look forward to *Doomsday*, the intrigue surrounding Spider-Man’s next journey is sure to keep audiences engaged and pondering what lies ahead for this cherished hero.