Danny Boyle’s Ink gets January UK cinema release

Danny Boyle’s Ink will open in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday, 8 January 2027, StudioCanal has confirmed.

The new drama stars Guy Pearce as media proprietor Rupert Murdoch, Jack O’Connell as newspaper editor Larry Lamb and Claire Foy as journalist Jules Davies. It will tell the story of Murdoch’s purchase of The Sun and the team that transformed the newspaper at the end of the 1960s.

A British cinema release is now confirmed

The UK and Ireland date gives audiences a clear route to see the film on the big screen following its festival launch. StudioCanal will handle the theatrical release in both territories.

The distribution plan is different elsewhere. Netflix says Ink will receive a limited US cinema release on 11 December 2026 before arriving on the service in the United States and Latin America on 8 January 2027. That streaming announcement does not replace the confirmed UK cinema release.

The film has not yet been reviewed publicly, so no claims can be made about its quality or awards prospects. What is confirmed is a prominent festival premiere, a major British director and a cast led by three internationally recognised actors.

Ink will open the Venice Film Festival

Before reaching cinemas, Ink will receive its world premiere on Wednesday, 2 September 2026, as the opening film of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

The film will screen in competition at the Sala Grande in Venice, placing it in contention for the Golden Lion. The festival runs from 2 to 12 September, with Ink launching the programme on opening night.

It will be Boyle’s first film to open the event. Festival director Alberto Barbera described the project as timely when its selection was announced, pointing to its examination of modern media’s origins and influence.

The story behind the headlines

Ink is adapted from James Graham’s stage play of the same name. Set in 1969, it follows Murdoch’s acquisition of the struggling Sun newspaper and his decision to appoint Larry Lamb as editor.

Their aim was to build a bold, populist paper that would challenge the established Daily Mirror. The story focuses on the journalists and outsiders who developed a new style of tabloid news designed to understand what readers wanted and deliver it with speed, energy and spectacle.

Rather than presenting a documentary account, the film is a dramatised adaptation of Graham’s play. The production’s official description calls it the story of visionaries and misfits whose approach changed the face of news. The distinction matters: audiences will be watching a scripted interpretation of historical events, not a factual reconstruction.

A major cast for Danny Boyle

Pearce, known for films including L.A. Confidential and The Brutalist, takes on the role of Murdoch. O’Connell plays Lamb after recent appearances in Sinners and Boyle’s 28 Years Later. Foy, whose screen work includes The Crown and First Man, plays Jules Davies.

The supporting cast includes Blake Harrison, Tanya Reynolds and Erin Doherty. Graham has adapted his own play for the screen, while Boyle also serves as a producer alongside Tessa Ross, Michael Ellenberg and Tracey Seaward.

Boyle’s filmography moves freely between intimate British stories and large-scale cinema, from Trainspotting and Millions to Slumdog Millionaire and the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Ink brings him back to a distinctly British subject with international consequences.

What happens next

The Venice premiere will provide the first substantial indication of how the film has approached its real people, political context and newspaper history. Until then, plot details beyond the official synopsis remain limited.

For UK audiences, the key confirmed information is simple: Ink arrives exclusively in cinemas on 8 January 2027. Its festival journey begins in Venice on 2 September, when Boyle, Pearce, O’Connell and Foy will introduce one of the year’s most closely watched British film premieres.