Netflix mounts an Oscar campaign for Danny Boyle's 'Ink' after Venice standing ovation

Netflix is campaigning Danny Boyle's film Ink for the Oscars, according to Variety. The film, an adaptation of James Graham's stage play about Rupert Murdoch's 1969 acquisition of the dying British tabloid The Sun, opened the 83rd Venice Film Festival in competition on September 2, 2026, and drew a four-minute standing ovation on opening night.

The festival, directed by Alberto Barbera, runs through September 12, 2026. After Venice, Ink screened at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals — the standard festival corridor that distributors use to build awards buzz ahead of the Academy Awards.

Graham adapted his own Tony-nominated play for the screen, which positions Ink squarely in the adapted screenplay Oscar conversation. Boyle, whose previous films include Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, directs a cast led by Guy Pearce as a brash, thirty-something Murdoch and Jack O'Connell as newspaper editor Larry Lamb. Claire Foy also stars. The film is a co-production of the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, with a runtime of 116 minutes, per the Venice Biennale's official selection page.

Pearce landed his first Oscar nomination — a supporting actor bid for The Brutalist — and his turn as Murdoch gives Netflix a proven awards performer to build a campaign around. O'Connell's profile has risen recently with appearances in Sinners and the 28 Years Later films.

A trailer dropped in early September 2026 ahead of the Venice premiere, per Deadline. Variety had already unveiled a first-look image of Pearce in character as Murdoch when it announced the U.S. release date on August 10, 2026.

Netflix is giving Ink a December 11, 2026 theatrical release in the United States, with the film arriving on the streaming service on January 8, 2027 in the United States and Latin America, according to Netflix's Tudum site. The December theatrical window — the gap between a film's cinema run and its streaming debut — is part of Netflix's awards-season strategy, giving the film time on big screens before Oscar nomination voting begins.

The release pattern mirrors the playbook Netflix has used for previous awards contenders: a festival launch to generate critical attention, a qualifying theatrical run in December, and a streaming release timed to keep the film fresh in voters' minds as ballots go out.