News of the World (film)

In 1870, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a former member of the Confederate Infantry who now makes a living traveling town to town reading newspapers for the populace for ten cents per person. Following one such evening of news reading, Kidd sets out for his next location when he encounters an overturned wagon on the road. Dismounting to investigate further, he encounters a lynched black man and a young white girl named Johanna who is dressed in Native American clothing. After an encounter with a Union Army patrol, Kidd is instructed to take the girl to Union officials at a checkpoint in a town up the road where they will sort out her Bureau of Indian Affairs paperwork and see to it she is returned to her surviving family. Reluctantly, Kidd acquiesces to the request.

At the Union checkpoint Kidd is informed that the Bureau of Indian Affairs representative is on the reservation and will be unavailable for three months. Seeking shelter with a former Confederate infantryman, Kidd reads the news and upon returning, begrudgingly accepts responsibility for returning the girl to her surviving family. As the two set out they attempt to find common ground, but neither one has much success in communicating with the other. This is further compounded at the next stop, when Kidd is confronted by three ex-Confederate soldiers turned criminals who express an interest in purchasing the girl from Kidd. Kidd refuses, but the three men pursue, leading to a shootout in the wilderness during which Johanna and Kidd overcome obstacles to work together for self-preservation.

At the next stop, Kidd encounters a radical band of militia working to "cleanse" the county from "outsiders". Kidd is contracted to read the approved news from the town's leader, but instead opts to read from a different paper about a group of coal miners who rally against a cruel man whose refusal to abide by safety standards puts his miners in jeopardy. Kidd’s story incites civil unrest, and ultimately results in Johanna gunning down the town's leader and rescuing Kidd. In the aftermath, Kidd and Johanna join a wagon train bound for a town with the railroad line before veering off to locate Johanna’s surviving family. During the journey Kidd’s wagon is destroyed, leaving Johanna and Kidd to continue on foot until the pair encounter Kiowa tribesmen from whom Johanna is able to obtain a horse.

Kidd and Johanna eventually reach her aunt and uncle's farmstead, the former revealing that Johanna's parents had struck out on their own and moved to hill country where the land would be cheaper; this led to them being killed in a Kiowa raid. Kidd reluctantly leaves Johanna (who is resistant) with them, and returns to San Antonio. His wife, Maria Luisa Betancourt Kidd, died from cholera in 1865. Now without any kin, he visits the mission where she is buried, and mournfully leaves his wedding ring and locket containing her picture on her grave.

Kidd then rides back to the village where he left Johanna, where he finds her tied to a pole, her aunt and uncle explaining that she refused to work and would instead run off. Asking forgiveness, Kidd tells Johanna (in Kiowa) that she belongs with him. Johanna accepts; her aunt and uncle reluctantly let them go. In an epilogue, Kidd reads the papers at another pulpit, with Johanna helping out on sound effects and bearing a new name: Johanna Kidd.

• Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd
• Helena Zengel as Johanna Leonberger / Cicada
• Michael Covino as Almay
• Fred Hechinger as John Calley
• Neil Sandilands as Wilhelm Leonberger
• Thomas Francis Murphy as Merritt Farley
• Mare Winningham as Jane
• Elizabeth Marvel as Ella Gannett
• Chukwudi Iwuji as Charles Edgefield
• Ray McKinnon as Christopher John "C.J." Kidd
• Bill Camp as Willie Branholme

In May 2017, Fox 2000 Pictures bought distribution rights to an adaptation of the Paulette Jiles novel with Luke Davies writing the screenplay and Tom Hanks set to star.[8] In February 2019, Paul Greengrass was announced as director.[9] As a result of the Disney/Fox merger, the film was transferred to Universal Pictures.[10] In August, Helena Zengel, Michael Covino, and Fred Hechinger were added to the cast, and Thomas Francis Murphy joined in September.[11][12][13][14] Filming commenced on September 2, 2019, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[15] In November 2020, Netflix bought the international distribution rights (excluding the United States) to the film.

News of the World was theatrically released by Universal Pictures in the United States on December 25, 2020, and on Netflix in other international territories, which was followed by a Premium video on demand (PVOD) release in the United States on January 15, 2021. It originally was going to be released by Fox 2000 Pictures. In November 2020, it was announced that Netflix had acquired international distribution rights except for the United States and China and will release it digitally on its streaming service on February 9.[2]

• Official website
• News of the World at IMDb
• Script Archived February 2, 2021, at the Wayback Machine