Tom Hanks’ ‘News of the World’ will be the first project to move to a new studio after Disney’s acquisition of Fox.
Following the $71.3 billion dollar merger, Fox 2000 – which produced films such as ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘The Heat’ – has been retired by Disney.
The 62-year-old actor’s latest project – which will see him reunited with ‘Captain Phillips’ director Paul Greengrass – has been moved over to Universal Pictures.
The upcoming adaptation of the best-selling novel by Paulette Jiles will see Hanks play Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a veteran who travels from town to town, reading the latest newspaper to the largely illiterate locals.
The movie will centre on the friendship between Kidd and a 10-year-old girl he’s tasked with bringing to her relatives in San Antonio, after she spent her childhood living with the Kiowa Indian tribe after she was kidnapped and her family was murdered.
The picture will be penned by Luke Davies and, according to the novel’s official synopsis, the pair’s 400-mile journey "proves difficult and at times dangerous".
It states: "Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act civilised. Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forging a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land."
Hanks recently starred alongside Meryl Streep as newspaper editor Ben Bradlee in ‘The Post’ and will next feature in animated sequel ‘Toy Story 4’.
It will be the last time that Hanks will voice the beloved character Woody after first bringing the cowboy doll to life in the original 1995 Disney Pixar movie.
Tom Hanks’ News of the World moved to Universal Studios
