When Sir Alexander Korda purchased British Lion Films, he also acquired a controlling interest in Sound City and Shepperton Studios.

[2] In spite of such successes, British Lion ran into financial difficulties in the 1950s when it was unable to repay a 1949 loan from the National Film Finance Corporation and went into receivership on 1 July 1954.

Among the problems faced by Shepperton Studios during this time was the desire of new British Lion director John Bentley to sell the grounds for housing, since redeveloping the land would have nearly doubled its value.

The studios' 1970s credits include Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and Jimmy Perry and David Croft's Dad's Army (both 1971), Richard Attenborough's Young Winston (1972) and Fred Zinnemann's The Day of the Jackal (1973).

In 1975, the studios were again transferred to new ownership and in spite of sparse production schedules served as the filming site of some high-budget productions, including Richard Donner's The Omen (1976), Franklin Schaffner's The Boys from Brazil (1978), Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), Attenborough's Gandhi (1982) and David Lean's A Passage to India (1984).

Bankers Warburg Pincus acquired the studios, which became busy with the filming of TV shows including Thomas & Friends and its sister series, TUGS, as well as such films as Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet (1990), Kevin Reynolds' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and Nicholas Hytner's The Madness of King George (1994).

[8] In February 2022, Amazon Prime Video signed a multi-million pound long-term deal with the studios for exclusive use of new production facilities.

The British TV series Thomas & Friends was shot on the "T Stage" from 1986 to 2008, after which the live action models originally used were replaced with computer animation.