In 2016, Roberts wrote and directed the underwater thriller 47 Meters Down. The film starred Mandy Moore and Claire Holt as sisters trapped on the ocean floor, surrounded by sharks and running out of air. It is the first fiction drama movie to be filmed almost entirely underwater. The film was just days away from a DVD release, with copies even out in some Target and Walmart stores, when it was bought from Dimension by Entertainment Studios, who pulled it from shelves and released it theatrically on 2000 screens. The film went on to earn $65 million theatrically, off a budget of only $5 million, and become the most successful independent movie of 2017.