Tea Shop Productions
Film production company based in London
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
- James Harris
- Mark Lane
| Formerly | The Tea Shop & Film Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film production |
| Founded | 2010[1] |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | London |
| Key people | Leonora Darby (producer)[2] |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Website | www |
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.[3]
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,[3] working for UK film industry veteran Simon Crowe of SC Films International.[4][5] 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.[3][4]
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.[6] Harris and Lane would exit the Fyzz partnership in 2019 and relaunch Tea Shop Productions with film financier Head Gear Films.[7]
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.[3] The film would make over $62 million world wide.[8] Two years later, the sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) would make more than $47.5 million worldwide on a $12 million budget.[9] In 2024, a third film, 47 Meters Down: The Wreck, was green lit.[10]
Tea Shop Productions' next big film was Fall (2022), a survival/psychological thriller that made $21 million worldwide on a $3 million budget.[3] As part of the film's production, Tea Shop created a 20-foot tower on a 100-foot hill to help provide false perspective.[11] In February 2026, Fall was No. 2 on Netflix's Top 10 streaming chart in the U.S.[12][11] 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.[3][12]
In 2023, Harris contacted filmmaker and YouTuber Curry Barker about turning his short film The Chair into a feature.[13] 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,[14][3] and make over $459 million worldwide.[15] Obsession is the company's highest grossing film.[3]
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.[16] 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.[17]
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.[18][19] Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions would acquire distribution rights for North America in July.[19]
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.[20]
As of 2026, the company employed five people, including Leonora Darby,[3] who first joined Tea Shop Productions as an assistant but was quickly promoted to producer.[13] Darby has described the essence of a Tea Shop project as "bold, commercial, authored genre".[4]
Filmography
Feature films
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Distributor(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Tower Block | James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson (directorial debuts) | Lionsgate UK (UK), Shout! Factory (US), and others (international) | [3] |
| 2013 | Cockney vs. Zombies | Matthias Hoene | StudioCanal | [3] |
| 2013 | Green Street 3: Never Back Down | James Nunn | Lionsgate Home Entertainment | [4] |
| 2014 | The Anomaly | Noel Clarke | Universal Pictures | [21] |
| 2014 | I Am Soldier | Ronnie Thompson | SC Films International, Lionsgate UK | [22][23] |
| 2016 | I Am Not a Serial Killer | Billy O'Brien | IFC Midnight | [24] |
| 2016 | Eliminators | James Nunn | Universal Pictures | [25] |
| 2017 | 47 Meters Down | Johannes Roberts | Entertainment Studios (US), Entertainment One (UK) | [26] |
| 2017 | Revolt | Joe Miale | Vertical Entertainment | [27] |
| 2017 | Romans/Retaliation* | Ludwig Shammasian, Paul Shammasian | Saban Films | [28][29] |
| 2017 | Slumber | Jonathan Hopkins | Vertical Entertainment | [30] |
| 2019 | 47 Meters Down: Uncaged | Johannes Roberts | Entertainment Studios (US), Altitude Film Distribution (UK) | [31] |
| 2021 | Wrong Turn | Mike P. Nelson | Saban Films | [32] |
| 2021 | A Banquet | Ruth Paxton | IFC Midnight | [33] |
| 2021 | Bull | Paul Andrew Williams | Signature Entertainment | [34] |
| 2022 | Fall | Scott Mann | Lionsgate (US), Signature Entertainment (UK) | [11] |
| 2022 | Into the Deep | Kate Cox | Lionsgate | [35] |
| 2022 | Gatlopp: Hell of a Game | Alberto Belli | XYZ Films | [36] |
| 2022 | Bar Fight! | Jim Mahoney | IFC Films | [37] |
| 2023 | Little Bone Lodge/The Last Exit | Matthias Hoene | SC Films International | [38] |
| 2023 | All Souls | Emmanuelle Pickett | Lionsgate Home Entertainment | [13][39] |
| 2024 | The Surfer | Lorcan Finnegan | Vertigo (UK, Ireland), Madman Films (Australia), Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate (US) | [40][19] |
| 2024 | He Went That Way | Jeffrey Darling (directorial debut) | Vertical Entertainment | [41] |
| 2024 | Marmalade | Keir O'Donnell (directorial debut) | Signature Entertainment | [42] |
| 2024 | The Wasp | Guillem Morales | Shout! Studios (US), Universal (UK) | [43] |
| 2024 | The Cut | Sean Ellis | [44] | |
| 2025 | Tornado | John Maclean | Lionsgate UK, IFC Films and Shudder (North America) | [45] |
| 2025 | Giant | Rowan Athale | Vertical (US), True Brit Entertainment (UK) | [46] |
| 2025 | The Bayou | Taneli Mustonen, Brad Watson | Vertical Entertainment | [47][48] |
| 2025 | Abraham's Boys | Natasha Kermani | RLJE Films, Shudder | [49] |
| 2025 | Obsession | Curry Barker | Focus Features (US), Universal Pictures (some international) | [50] |
| 2026 | Fall 2: Deadpoint | Peter and Michael Spierig | Lionsgate | [12] |
*Note: Romans premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh International Film Festival. It was released in the US in 2020 under the title Retaliation.
Short films
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Plague | Johannes Roberts | Proof-of-concept short film | [51] |
| 2023 | Everybody Dies... Sometimes | Charlotte Hamblin | Won awards at the Kino London Short Film Festival, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival | [52][53] |
Upcoming films
| Title | Director(s) | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| The Cycle | Jordan Downey | [54] |
| 47 Meters Down: The Wreck | Patrick Lussier | [10] |
| The Red Triangle | Johannes Roberts | [55] |
| The Broodmare | Anna Zlokovic | [56] |
| Boutique | Jim Gavin | [57] |
| Feature based on Julia Armfield's short story Manti | TBA | [4] |