‘Ink’ Trailer: Guy Pearce’s Rupert Murdoch Builds His Tabloid Empire in Danny Boyle’s Fleet Street Thriller

If you like your media industry dramas to be based in reality but still can’t resist a salacious power struggle, “Ink” might be the movie for you this holiday season. Danny Boyle‘s Netflix thriller dramatizes the beginnings of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, following the future mogul when he was just a young Australian newspaper man. When he launched The Sun alongside former business partner Larry Lamb in 1969, the two men effectively created the modern tabloid and figured out that audiences were hungry for a lot more than just truth. Their sensationalist approach to journalism would come in handy on many of Murdoch’s future business endeavors, and the film draws a very clear line between his editorial preferences and the 2026 world he helped create for us. Guy Pearce stars as Murdoch alongside Jack O’Connell as Lamb, with James Graham handling the writing duties on the adaption of his hit West End and Broadway play. “Ink” was the opening film for the 2026 Venice International Film Festival, where critics praised its entertainment value while acknowledging that it treads some familiar territory. “That ‘Ink’ begins as a story of Larry Lamb and Rupert Murdoch launching the tabloid newspaper The Sun in 1969 and ends with a montage including Trump and Elon Musk tells you all you need to know about Danny Boyle’s new film: This is a vividly directed if overcooked political parable about How We Got Here Now,” IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio wrote in his review. “If you’ve seen ‘Nightcrawler’ or ‘Network,’ there’s nothing new to take away about the if-it-bleeds-it-leads newsroom mentality, but Jack O’Connell (who also starred in Boyle’s ’28 Years Later’) is terrific as an editor obsessively addicted to winning — and willing to mow down lives in the process.” The original “Ink” play premiered on the West End in 2017, with a Broadway run following in 2019. Boyle spent years trying to make a movie out of the material, and recalled the lengthy process of convincing actors to remain on board during an interview with IndieWire at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival. “I begged Guy to hang on,” Boyle said. “I apologized to Guy because it wasn’t like I’d offered it to him, but I’d said ‘I want you,’ and bless him he hung in there for us. Netflix will release “Ink” in select theaters on Friday, December 11 before it streams on January 8. Watch the full trailer below.