Danny Boyle ‘s Ink, starring Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy, and Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch lands at Netflix ahead of its Venice Film Festival opening-night debut on September 2.
Ink, Boyle’s period thriller about the early years of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire, has been acquired by Netflix for U.S. and Latin American distribution. The film is set to world premiere September 2 as the opening-night selection of the 83rd Venice Film Festival.
Set in 1969, the film charts how Murdoch and tabloid editor Larry Lamb transformed The Sun into one of England’s most influential, and scandalous, newspapers.
Jack O’Connell stars as Lamb, with Guy Pearce playing Murdoch and Claire Foy as Jules Davies, an ambitious editor who joins The Sun and works closely with Lamb.
The screenplay comes from James Graham, adapting his own 2017 stage play of the same name, a work that earned Tony and Olivier recognition and has long been considered a natural candidate for the screen. Graham’s fingerprints are all over prestige British television and stage, and pairing his source material with Boyle’s kinetic direction makes this one of the more combustible creative pairings of the year.
Boyle’s last feature was 28 Years Later, released in 2025, making Ink his first original, non-franchise film in years, and his first time competing at Venice. The return to wholly original territory signals a filmmaker operating with serious intent.
The production reunites Boyle with producer Tessa Ross, the two having last collaborated on Slumdog Millionaire. That’s a reunion with teeth.
The distribution structure is worth noting. Netflix acquired North American and Latin American rights, while Studiocanal is handling theatrical releases across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Benelux, Australia, and New Zealand. It’s rare for Netflix not to pursue global rights outright — the regional split suggests a negotiated outcome that kept Studiocanal’s theatrical ambitions intact while giving Netflix a clear awards-season vehicle in its most important market.
The film’s opening night Venice slot immediately positioned it as one of the most coveted domestic acquisitions of the fall festival circuit, particularly for a company with Oscar ambitions. Netflix moved fast. That tells you something.
Ink premieres at Venice on September 2. The festival runs through September 12.
