Tea Shop Productions, also known as Tea Shop (formerly The Tea Shop & Film Company), is a film production company based in London. It was co-founded in 2010 by producers James Harris and Mark Lane, who now run the company with producer Leonora Darby.
One of Tea Shop Productions' goals is to elevate undiscovered directors. The company has helped filmmakers like James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson, Jeffrey Darling, and Keir O'Donnell by producing their directorial debuts. Some of Tea Shop's other notable projects include 47 Meters Down (2017), Fall (2022), The Surfer (2024), and Curry Barker's Obsession (2025), the company's highest-grossing film.
History James Harris and Mark Lane were university roommates at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design in the 2000s. After graduating, the two lived together in London, with Harris working on low-budget independent films and Lane starting in film sales, working for UK film industry veteran Simon Crowe of SC Films International. Around 2009, Harris asked Lane to help produce and sell a few films he was developing. These included Tower Block (2012) and Cockney vs. Zombies (2012). Lane left his day job to work with Harris full time.
In 2016, it was reported that UK film financing company The Fyzz Facility had formed a strategic partnership with Tea Shop Productions (then The Tea Shop & Film Company) to launch The Fyzz Facility Pictures. They had already collaborated on three films together. Harris and Lane were appointed as directors of the company, alongside Fyzz's producers Wayne Marc Godfrey and Robert Jones. Harris and Lane would exit the Fyzz partnership in 2019 and relaunch Tea Shop Productions with film financier Head Gear Films.
The 2017 survival horror film 47 Meters Down marked the first time Harris and Lane helped fund a movie, investing $8,000 in the project. The film would make over $62 million world wide. Two years later, the sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) would make more than $47.5 million worldwide on a $12 million budget. In 2024, a third film, 47 Meters Down: The Wreck, was green lit.
Tea Shop Productions' next big film was Fall (2022), a survival/psychological thriller that made $21 million worldwide on a $3 million budget. As part of the film's production, Tea Shop created a 20-foot tower on a 100-foot hill to help provide false perspective. In February 2026, Fall was No. 2 on Netflix's Top 10 streaming chart in the U.S. In May 2024, it was announced that a sequel, Fall 2: Deadpoint, had been green lit by Lionsgate, with the Spierig Brothers set to direct.
In 2023, Harris contacted filmmaker and YouTuber Curry Barker about turning his short film The Chair into a feature. Barker instead pitched Obsession (2025), a supernatural horror film that would go on to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), be picked up by Focus Features for $15 million, and make over $459 million worldwide. Obsession is the company's highest grossing film.
In May 2023, it was reported that film tech company and generative AI firm Flawless, which was co-founded by Fall director Scott Mann, was partnering with XYZ Films and Tea Shop Productions to acquire rights to foreign-language films and convert them into English for distribution. In September of that year, Tea Shop, along with Flawless and XYZ Films, acquired the rights to Ryoo Seung-wan's crime film, Smugglers (2023), ahead of its Gala Premiere at the TIFF.
In April 2024,The Surfer, an Australian psychological thriller starring Nicolas Cage, received a six-minute standing ovation after its Midnight Screening premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions would acquire distribution rights for North America in July.
In May 2024, Tea Shop Productions signed a production venture with Flawless, for a $100 million fund, to produce and fully finance up to 10 commercial genre films.
As of 2026, the company employed five people, including Leonora Darby, who first joined Tea Shop Productions as an assistant but was quickly promoted to producer. Darby has described the essence of a Tea Shop project as "bold, commercial, authored genre".
Filmography
Feature films YearTitleDirector(s)Distributor(s)Ref.2012Tower Block James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson (directorial debuts) Lionsgate UK (UK), Shout! Factory (US), and others (international)2013Cockney vs. ZombiesMatthias HoeneStudioCanal2013Green Street 3: Never Back DownJames NunnLionsgate Home Entertainment2014The AnomalyNoel ClarkeUniversal Pictures2014I Am SoldierRonnie ThompsonSC Films International, Lionsgate UK2016I Am Not a Serial KillerBilly O'BrienIFC Midnight2016EliminatorsJames NunnUniversal Pictures201747 Meters DownJohannes RobertsEntertainment Studios (US), Entertainment One (UK)2017RevoltJoe MialeVertical Entertainment2017Romans/Retaliation*Ludwig Shammasian, Paul ShammasianSaban Films2017SlumberJonathan HopkinsVertical Entertainment201947 Meters Down: UncagedJohannes RobertsEntertainment Studios (US), Altitude Film Distribution (UK)2021Wrong TurnMike P. Nelson Saban Films2021A BanquetRuth PaxtonIFC Midnight2021BullPaul Andrew WilliamsSignature Entertainment2022FallScott MannLionsgate (US), Signature Entertainment (UK)2022Into the DeepKate CoxLionsgate2022Gatlopp: Hell of a Game Alberto BelliXYZ Films2022Bar Fight!Jim MahoneyIFC Films2023Little Bone Lodge/The Last ExitMatthias HoeneSC Films International2023All SoulsEmmanuelle PickettLionsgate Home Entertainment2024The SurferLorcan FinneganVertigo (UK, Ireland), Madman Films (Australia), Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate (US)2024He Went That WayJeffrey Darling (directorial debut)Vertical Entertainment2024MarmaladeKeir O'Donnell (directorial debut)Signature Entertainment2024The WaspGuillem MoralesShout! Studios (US), Universal (UK)2024The CutSean Ellis2025TornadoJohn MacleanLionsgate UK, IFC Films and Shudder (North America)2025GiantRowan AthaleVertical (US), True Brit Entertainment (UK)2025The BayouTaneli Mustonen, Brad WatsonVertical Entertainment2025Abraham's BoysNatasha KermaniRLJE Films, Shudder2025ObsessionCurry BarkerFocus Features (US), Universal Pictures (some international)2026Fall 2: DeadpointPeter and Michael SpierigLionsgate *Note: Romans premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was released in the US in 2020 under the title Retaliation. Short films YearTitleDirector(s)NotesRef.2020The PlagueJohannes RobertsProof-of-concept short film2023Everybody Dies... SometimesCharlotte HamblinWon awards at the Kino London Short Film Festival, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival
Upcoming films +TitleDirector(s)RefThe CycleJordan Downey47 Meters Down: The WreckPatrick LussierThe Red TriangleJohannes RobertsThe BroodmareAnna ZlokovicBoutiqueJim GavinFeature based on Julia Armfield's short story Manti
References
External links
Official website