A Miami Vice reboot is officially a go, and it’s bringing some serious star power to the vibrant East Coast city. Joseph Kosinski, the director behind Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy, has been given the green light to steer the project.
In addition, Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan are officially locked in to don leisure suits and shades as Crockett and Tubbs.
Unlike the contemporary 2006 reimagining from Michael Mann, which starred Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, Kosinski previously confirmed that his film will be set during the '80s, hence the title, Miami Vice 85.
Back in November, Kosinski hinted that the Butler and Jordan would be involved, stating, "Michael is someone I’ve admired for a long time, [and] always wanted to work with him. Austin, I think, is proving himself as someone to watch. Again, I’ve just have really admired his choices. If it ends up being those two, I’d be very lucky."
While things can certainly change between now and when cameras start to roll, it seems reasonably safe to say that the Oblivion director should consider himself a lucky man.
And it seems as if the potential for changes to occur has increased as shortly after the project was announced, word has come down that the reboot has been delayed from its initial August 6, 2027, release date to May 19th, 2028. Filming was originally set to start this fall but that now appears to be in limbo, hence the delay.
In related news, with Kosinski also set to direct an Untitled UFO Thriller in addition to Miami Vice 85, he's not expected to return to helm a sequel to Top Gun: Maverick.
Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) and Eric Warren Singer (Top Gun: Maverick) are co-writing the script. It was previously reported that the film will take its ques from the pilot episode of the original TV show.
The original Miami Vice show followed two undercover detectives, James "Sonny" Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas), who are partnered together in the Metro-Dade Police Department's Vice Squad in Miami, Florida.
They worked undercover to infiltrate and take down the city's vast criminal underwold, focusing on drug cartels, arms delaers, and sex traffickers.