Movie theaters are still closed due to the pandemic, but New Mexicans will get a chance to see Tom Hanks’ “News of the World.”
The film was released on Christmas in theaters — just in time for Oscar consideration.
Beginning on Friday, Jan. 15, the New Mexico-filmed production will be available on-demand via Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Vudu and Xfinity.
Principal photography began on the project in Oct. 2019, where it filmed in and around Santa Fe for a few months.
“News of the World” is based on the best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles.
It is set five years after the end of the Civil War.
Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd, played by Hanks, a widower and veteran of three wars, moves from town to town as a nonfiction storyteller.
He shares the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, catastrophes and adventures from the far reaches of the globe.
In the plains of Texas, Kidd crosses paths with Johanna, played by Helena Zengel, a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa tribe six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she’s never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will.
Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the wilderness, the two face challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.
According to the film office, the production filmed through November 2019 and employed more than 200 New Mexico crew members and 25 New Mexico actors.
The film is directed by Paul Greengrass, who also wrote the script with an earlier draft by Luke Davies.
Joining Hanks on the producing side is Gary Goetzman, Gregory Goodman and Gail Mutrux.
