Sony Pictures is developing a biopic about legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite. The studio has tapped screenwriter David Rothley to adapt Douglas Brinkley's 2012 biography 'Cronkite,' sources told Variety. The project comes amid discussions about CBS News' recent changes.
Sony Pictures, known for films like 'Spider-Man,' is working on a movie about Walter Cronkite, the iconic CBS Evening News anchor. Sources confirmed to Variety that David Rothley will adapt historian Douglas Brinkley's book 'Cronkite.' Brinkley holds the Katherine Tsanoff Brown chair in humanities at Rice University and serves as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair; six of his books have been New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Cronkite, who died in 2009 at age 92, remains a symbol of trusted broadcast journalism. The biography has drawn praise, with PBS anchor Robert MacNeil writing in a Washington Post review: “For anyone interested in the evolution and power of broadcast news, this book is a tremendous read, minutely documenting TV journalism’s most remarkable phenomenon: Walter Cronkite.” He added that Brinkley’s work “brings the man intimately to light, in all his petty maneuvers and all his grandeur.” The timing feels relevant as Cronkite's legacy surfaces in conversations about CBS News under Paramount Global's ownership and editor Bari Weiss's leadership. At Sony, Peter Kang and Allie Broome are overseeing the project. This marks Rothley's second collaboration with the studio, following their 2021 acquisition of his spec script 'The Dryline,' produced by Joel Silver. Rothley previously ran the story department at Relativity Media and worked as a staff writer at Digital Domain; he is now developing projects with Peter Guber’s Mandalay Pictures and Chris Hemsworth’s Wild State.
