Tom Hanks' News of the World set for 2020 release

The Tom Hanks-starrer News of the World is set for release on December 25, 2020, Universal announced Wednesday.

Paul Greengrass — who worked with Hanks on Captain Phillips (2013) — is directing the adaptation of Paulette Jiles' 2016 novel of the same name, which is set in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The story follows Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks), a widower and veteran of three wars who moves from town to town sharing the headlines of the day and crosses paths with a 10-year-old girl (Helena Zengel), who was taken in by the Kiowa tribe six years earlier and raised as one of their own. The girl is being returned to her biological aunt against her will, and Kidd agrees to deliver her across thousands of miles of unforgiving wilderness.

Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing the project through their Playtone Productions, along with Gail Mutrux through her Pretty Pictures.