Netflix Sets U.S. Release Date for Danny Boyle’s Tabloid Drama ‘Ink,’ Unveils First Look at Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch (EXCLUSIVE)

Netflix has dated its most recent acquisition “Ink,” Academy Award winner Danny Boyle‘s incendiary drama about the birth of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid empire.

Variety can exclusively reveal, the film will open in select theaters Dec. 11 before landing on Netflix on Jan. 8 in the U.S. and Latin America. Alongside the dating, the streamer has unveiled a new image from the film which shows Oscar nominee Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch.

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The timing drops “Ink” squarely into the thick of awards season. The film will have its world premiere as the opening night selection of the Venice Film Festival, where it will compete for the Golden Lion, before making its Canadian debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Starring Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy and Guy Pearce, “Ink” is based on the Tony-nominated play of the same name by James Graham, who adapted his own work for the screen. Pearce plays a brash, 30-something Rupert Murdoch, with O’Connell as editor Larry Lamb, the working-class newspaper journalist who helped him remake The Sun into a populist juggernaut.

Boyle directs from Graham’s screenplay. The two-time Oscar winner, who took home directing and best picture honors for “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) and most recently reunited with screenwriter Alex Garland on “28 Years Later,” produces “Ink” alongside Tracey Seaward, Tessa Ross and Michael Ellenberg.

Graham, one of Britain’s most sought-after dramatists, wrote the Olivier-winning “Dear England” and the acclaimed miniseries “Sherwood.” His stage version of “Ink” bowed at London’s Almeida Theatre in 2017 before transferring to the West End and Broadway, where Bertie Carvel won the Tony for featured actor as Murdoch.

Studiocanal fully financed “Ink” and handles worldwide sales, releasing the film theatrically across its territories. The international rollout begins Jan. 6 in France and Belgium, followed by the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand on Jan. 7 and the U.K. and Poland on Jan. 8. Italy opens Feb. 18, with Germany on Feb. 25.

Coupled with its Venice launch and TIFF berth, plus an expected Telluride stop in between given its premiere designations at the other two fests, the release strategy signals the streamer’s intent to campaign “Ink” heavily through the Oscar season. Netflix’s slate is stacked, anchored by Cannes acquisitions “La Bola Negra,” which shared the festival’s best director prize, and “Gentle Monster,” starring French star Léa Seydoux. Still to come from the streaming giant are the untitled sequel to “Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood” from director David Fincher and the war drama “The Mosquito Bowl” from Peter Berg.

The Netflix deal for U.S. and Latin America rights was closed July 2026 ahead of the Venice bow. “Ink” is a Studiocanal, Media Res and House Productions film.

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