{ "id": "ephzjn8p2s", "slug": "the-paper-1994-film", "title": "The Paper (1994 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": 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"geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-k-to-w", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Titles K to W", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-k-to-w", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": 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"geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994", "label": "Comedies of 1990 to 1994", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-k-to-w", "label": "Titles K to W", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-k-to-w" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Paper (1994) is a Ron Howard comedy-drama, also called a newsroom drama, about one day at the fictional New York Sun tabloid, starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, and Marisa Tomei, released by Universal on March 18, 1994.", "snippet": "The Paper (1994) is a Ron Howard comedy-drama, also called a newsroom drama, about one day at the fictional New York Sun tabloid, starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, and Marisa Tomei, released by Universal on March 18, 1994.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-1990-to-1994.slapstick-black-and-family-comedies.alpha-k-to-w", "markdown": "# The Paper (1994 film)\n\n**The Paper** is a 1994 American comedy-drama directed by [Ron Howard](https://www.edgepedia.org/ron-howard), set over a single day at a fictional New York tabloid, the *New York Sun*, whose metro editor races to verify a story that could free two wrongly accused murder suspects before deadline. It was written by [David Koepp](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-koepp) and Stephen Koepp, produced by [Brian Grazer](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-grazer) and Frederick Zollo for Imagine Entertainment, and released by Universal Pictures on March 18, 1994.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60421) • [2](https://imagine-entertainment.com/film/the-paper/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | March 18, 1994 (domestic), distributed by Universal Pictures[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110771/) |\n| Director and writers | Ron Howard; screenplay by David Koepp and Stephen Koepp[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60421) |\n| Lead cast | Michael Keaton (Henry Hackett), Glenn Close (Alicia Clark), Robert Duvall (Bernie White), Marisa Tomei (Martha Hackett), Randy Quaid (Michael McDougal)[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-paper-1994) |\n| Setting | One day at the *New York Sun*, a fictional New York tabloid (motto: \"It Shines on All\")[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-18-ca-35499-story.html) |\n| Box office | $38,824,341 domestic, $9,600,000 international, $48,424,341 worldwide[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110771/) |\n| Production cost | $31 million, about $1.5 million under budget and eight days ahead of schedule[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html) |\n| Technical details | 112 minutes, rated R for strong language; cinematography by John Seale, music by Randy Newman[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60421) |\n| Critical reception | 86% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 37 reviews; 67% audience score[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paper) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nHenry Hackett ([Michael Keaton](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-keaton)) is the metro editor of the *New York Sun*, a tabloid facing financial cuts. His pregnant wife, Martha ([Marisa Tomei](https://www.edgepedia.org/marisa-tomei)), pleads with him to take a more respectable job, and he is weighing an offer from another paper with fewer hours and higher pay when he gets his hottest story in years.[2](https://imagine-entertainment.com/film/the-paper/) The story concerns two Black youths arrested for the killing of two white businessmen, suspects whom even the police disown; Hackett clashes over running it on page one with the managing editor, Alicia Clark ([Glenn Close](https://www.edgepedia.org/glenn-close)), a bottom-line-oriented editor imposing unpopular cutbacks, while editor-in-chief Bernie White (Robert Duvall) gives him five hours to prove the youths are innocent.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-19-tv-44401-story.html) The supporting newsroom includes Randy Quaid as a paranoid, pistol-packing columnist and Jason Robards as the publisher Graham Keighley.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/25/the-paper-media-frenzy/80e5216c-ccc2-4855-9a1e-6dcc8b44486f/) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-paper-1994)\n\n## Production\n\nHoward came to the project after meeting David Koepp, then known for *Jurassic Park*, who was completing a script with his brother Stephen Koepp, a senior editor at *Time* magazine, about 24 hours in the life of a newspaper.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html) Howard viewed deadlines as a metaphor for what people go through in daily life, and he treated the film as one that would have to be sold on word of mouth rather than concept.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html)\n\n**Research and setting.** Howard spent a month of on-site research sitting in on editorial meetings at New York tabloids, including time with the *Post*'s former editor and columnist [Pete Hamill](https://www.edgepedia.org/pete-hamill). He said the fictional *Sun* was built on \"an amalgamation of what we were observing at the Daily News and the New York Post.\" One incident he observed, a *Daily News* reporter sitting on an unconfirmed tip that [Darryl Strawberry](https://www.edgepedia.org/darryl-strawberry) would be investigated by the IRS, with editors pacing and pushing back deadlines on a secondary source, supplied the film's central dilemma of running a hot story that might be wrong.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html)\n\nThe film was shot entirely in New York, mainly in a Manhattan office building that doubled as the *Sun* newsroom. Howard brought it in at $31 million, about $1.5 million under budget and eight days ahead of schedule.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html) Universal opened it exclusively in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, and Chicago on March 18, sneaked it into about 800 theaters the next day, and went wide on March 25.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film earned $175,507 in its domestic opening and finished with $38,824,341 domestically and $48,424,341 worldwide, about 80 percent of it from the United States.[3](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110771/) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 86% Tomatometer from 37 reviews, with the critics consensus calling it \"fast and frenetic\" and crediting the cast and director for capturing the energy of the newsroom; the audience score is 67%.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paper)\n\nContemporary critics praised its newsroom texture. Roger Ebert wrote that the film \"gets a lot of things right about working on a newspaper,\" including how the job screws up your personal life, and called Keaton \"just about perfectly cast\" as an editor who cannot let a big story wait.[10](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-paper-1994) The *Washington Post* found it \"accurate to a fault about the details of newsroom life\" and noted walk-ons by working journalists including [Bob Costas](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-costas), USA Today's Jeannie Williams, and MTV's Kurt Loder.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/25/the-paper-media-frenzy/80e5216c-ccc2-4855-9a1e-6dcc8b44486f/) Kenneth Turan of the *Los Angeles Times* wrote that it \"never stops for breath long enough to be dull,\" while observing that it ultimately dissolves into slam-bang farce.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-18-ca-35499-story.html) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-19-tv-44401-story.html) Other reviewers were cooler: the *Washington Post* judged it no *His Girl Friday* and faulted its treatment of the Close character, and the *Globe and Mail* later wrote that the picture falls in love with its subject until \"the acid drains from the wit.\"[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/25/movies/a1608c46-f20e-465e-8042-a6ce76279f24/) • [7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paper)\n\n## Place in the newspaper-film tradition\n\n*The Paper* belongs to a Hollywood tradition of newsroom films stretching back to [Ben Hecht](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-hecht) and Charles MacArthur's play *The Front Page*, which has been made and remade three times; Turan noted that at least once a decade the movies fall in love with the romance of print journalism.[5](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-18-ca-35499-story.html) The *Washington Post* drew the comparison directly: *The Front Page* centers on newsmen on the eve of a hanging, while Howard's film opens with a hung-over Hackett awakening to news of a double murder, and where Hildy Johnson wants to quit the newspaper racket to marry, Hackett is pressured by his wife to leave the newsroom he loves.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1994/03/27/hollywoods-read-on-newspapers/e7985d15-42e3-4949-bc73-3ebfe50b8862/) A scholarly assessment describes the film as one that \"seeks to have it both ways,\" immersing itself in the excitement of big-city journalism while reconciling outlaw virtues with the respectability of marriage and family.[13](https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/7f656b30-3b68-4ced-b016-ed5f009e5e19/content)\n\nThe film has remained a reference point for journalists; a Universal home-video release followed on November 18, 1997, and the title is available on digital rental and purchase.[14](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Paper-The) • [15](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-paper)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Paper (1994), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60421)\n2. [The Paper, Imagine Entertainment](https://imagine-entertainment.com/film/the-paper/)\n3. [The Paper (1994), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0110771/)\n4. [The Paper (1994), JustWatch (US)](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-paper-1994)\n5. [Kenneth Turan, \"'The Paper': It's All in the Delivery,\" Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1994](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-18-ca-35499-story.html)\n6. [\"Reeling in the Years: Turning 40, Ron Howard Is Just Happy to Be Making Movies,\" Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1994](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-28-ca-28354-story.html)\n7. [The Paper, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paper)\n8. [Kenneth Turan, \"'The Paper',\" Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1995](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-19-tv-44401-story.html)\n9. [\"'The Paper': Media Frenzy,\" The Washington Post, March 25, 1994](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/25/the-paper-media-frenzy/80e5216c-ccc2-4855-9a1e-6dcc8b44486f/)\n10. [Roger Ebert, \"The Paper,\" March 18, 1994](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-paper-1994)\n11. [\"Movies,\" The Washington Post, March 25, 1994](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/03/25/movies/a1608c46-f20e-465e-8042-a6ce76279f24/)\n12. [Howard Kurtz, \"Hollywood's Read on Newspapers,\" The Washington Post, March 27, 1994](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1994/03/27/hollywoods-read-on-newspapers/e7985d15-42e3-4949-bc73-3ebfe50b8862/)\n13. [Thesis on journalism films, University of Canterbury](https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/7f656b30-3b68-4ced-b016-ed5f009e5e19/content)\n14. [The Paper (1994), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Paper-The)\n15. [The Paper, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/the-paper)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 1990 to 1994 › Titles K to W*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Paper (1994 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Paper (1994 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Paper (1994 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-paper-1994-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Paper is a Ron Howard comedy-drama, also called a newsroom drama, about one day at the fictional New York Sun tabloid, starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, and Marisa Tomei, released by Universal on March 18, 1994." }