Obsession producer Leonora Ann Darby says she…
Just days after the indie horror hit “Obsession” crossed $500 million worldwide at the box workplace, the movie’s producers are going through a lawsuit from a colleague who claims they had been cut out of the income.
Leonora Ann Darby filed a lawsuit in a California state court on Monday, accusing Tea Shop Productions’ co-founders James Harris and Mark Lane for reneging on an earlier settlement, according to THR.
The initial settlement would have made her an equal producer at the company, and on the project, though she was finally relegated to an govt producer position.
Leonora Ann Darby filed a lawsuit in a California state court on Monday, accusing Tea Shop Productions’ co-founders James Harris and Mark Lane for reneging on an earlier settlement, according to THR. Getty Images for The Surfer
Just days after the indie horror hit “Obsession” crossed $500 million worldwide at the box workplace, the movie’s producers are going through a lawsuit from a colleague who claims to have been cut out of the income. ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
The lawsuit alleges that her work on the psychological thriller — at one level “rescuing” it, according to the lawsuit — ought to have certified her for a lead producer position, which incorporates revenue participation involvement.
Darby claims that, once the movie turned a substantial box workplace hit — and now a half of Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights — Harris and Lane cut her out, which had major financial implications, though the quantity she was cut out of was not given in the lawsuit.
“Ms. Darby has brought serious and substantial claims, supported by a detailed factual record,“ said her lawyer Thomas K. Richards, a partner at Singh, Singh and Trauben, in a statement. “She is confident in her case and intends to pursue it fully.”
Darby began working at Tea Shop Productions in 2019, serving to to produce movies such as 2021’s “Bull” and “A Banquet,” 2024’s “The Surfer” and 2025’s “Tornado,” to identify a few.
Darby’s management was also said to be essential in delivering the movie on time so it might premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was offered to Focus Features for a whopping $16.2 million. WireImage
She engaged with Harris and Lane in 2024 to negotiate a new compensation settlement that would give her one-third of the web income for movies that she served as a lead producer on.
When she got here on board “Obsession,” the artistic control of the movie had been taken away from writer-director Curry Barker and handed off to a new editor.
When that association was deemed to be hurting the movie, Darby stepped in and introduced Barker back into the fold in post-production.
She also organized for re-shoots to happen, which also drastically helped the movie and addressed many of the problems that had been addressed in post-production.
James Grandison (from left), Nathan Klingher, Leonora Darby, Alexander Bertrand, Julian McMahon, Nicolas Cage, Lorcan Finnegan, Thomas Martin and Jim Kolmar attend the North American premiere of “The Surfer” during the 2025 SXSW Conference and Festival at ZACH Theatre on Monday, March 10, 2025, in Austin, Texas. Getty Images for The Surfer
Darby’s management was also said to be essential in delivering the movie on time so it might premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was offered to Focus Features for a whopping $16.2 million.
“Darby‘s notes on the opening relational set up between the lead male and female characters, the character arcs in the first two acts and her strong recommendation (which was adopted) to fully commit to the film‘s supernatural elements, including making the One Wish Willow a real element that functioned as intended in the real world of the film (with the iconic ‘money scene’ thus confirming this), critically resulted in a new pathway for the film,” the lawsuit claims.
A scene from “Obsession” in 2025. ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
However, after the movie hit theaters back in May, and turned a vital and business hit, Harris and Lane, “repeatedly breached and violated the 2024 agreement.”
Harris and Lane not only didn’t invite her to take part in selling the movie, or the premiere screening, and said “Obsession,” “would be the one film on which she received no continuing participation.”
From left, Michael Johnston, Megan Lawless and Cooper Tomlinson in “Obsession” in 2025. ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection
Harris paid Darby a $300,000 charge, with both events agreeing she would continue to take part in internet income after the movie’s release, though that would change.
Tea Shop proposed a new settlement that withdrew the previously-promised one-third of internet income, including future compensation could be thought-about, “where we [Harris and Lane] feel appropriate.”
The lawsuit alleges this was half of a, “years-long sample in which they [Harris and Lane] promised Darby equal treatment and finally memorialized that promise economically through her one-third (33.3 %) internet income share while retaining sensible control over the mechanisms through which she might exercise and benefit from that equality.“
Darby is also searching for a full accounting of “Obsession” and other Tea Shop Productions tasks to decide if other compensation could also be owed to her.
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