Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan Bring Heat to 'Miami Vice' Revival

Max Sterling, 4/25/2026Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan star in a revival of "Miami Vice," aiming to capture the glamour and grit of 1980s Miami. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, the film promises a stylish meditation on crime and culture, but can it resonate with modern audiences?

Guiding this powerboat straight through familiar, glitter-soaked waters is Joseph Kosinski, Hollywood’s current maestro of glossy nostalgia (his “Top Gun: Maverick” still pulses in the rearview mirror). This time, he’s swapping Tom Cruise’s flight jacket for Austin Butler’s sockless loafers—Butler poised to slide into Sonny Crockett territory with the kind of chiseled ennui only an Oscar nom can buy. Alongside him, Michael B. Jordan’s Rico Tubbs, ready to trade “Creed” sweat for midnight stakeouts on Ocean Drive. It’d be hard to imagine a more statement pairing for the new generation: two actors with more Uber rides between them than Miami Vice reruns on cable—and yet, the chemistry could be electric.

Cynics may mutter—yet another 1980s reboot, as if Hollywood’s entire strategy for 2025 consists of fishing old hits from the canal and giving them a CGI rinse. And it’s a fair point. Nostalgia isn’t exactly in short supply these days; it seems every other major studio is digging up the past faster than Miami PD on a warehouse bust. But Kosinski, for what it’s worth, isn’t shy about his obsession. In a recent chat with Collider, he admitted that, while others his age were geeking out over “Transformers” or “Star Wars,” he was mainlining “Miami Vice,” soaking up the vibe like it was the world’s last mojito. Makes sense—few directors in recent memory have shown this kind of genuine affection for a bygone era, and it’s hard not to root for a filmmaker who admits he’s reanimating his own childhood fever dreams.

Of course, the anticipated joyride has hit a few red lights. Talk was that the film—IMAX ambitions and all—would roar into theaters August 2027. Don’t hold your breath beneath the palm trees just yet; the release has drifted to May 2028. Studio politics, scheduling dramas, who knows—Miami may be timeless, but modern film production is not. It does buy the crew ample time to shuffle their soundtrack choices or, one suspects, to reconsider which pastel palette feels the least ironic. In the world of reboots, a year is an eternity; plenty can change—possibly even the leads (just ask any fan of superhero franchises).

Still, there’s a kernel of hope here. Alongside Kosinski in the writers’ room, Anthony Yerkovich—the OG creator, who first envisioned the Miami that would spawn a thousand fashion disasters—returns. That alone lends a dose of credibility that’s usually absent from these kinds of retro crimes. Add Oscar darling Dan Gilroy (whose “Nightcrawler” burned bright and weird) and Eric Warren Singer (sharp as ever after “American Hustle”), and suddenly, this script feels less like a payday and more like a genuine caper. Even the official synopsis pulls no punches: this version looks to the show’s earliest DNA, promising “the glamour and corruption of mid-80’s Miami”—not the self-parody of the series’ twilight years, not the rain-soaked grit of Michael Mann’s 2006 detour, but something moodier and, just maybe, more honest.

But can a film shot in the 2020s genuinely capture that balmy, slightly reckless Miami that sprawled across TV screens in the Reagan era? After all, “Miami Vice” was never just about red Ferraris or blinding sports coats—it was about a city teetering between beauty and brokenness, culture clash and cocaine-fueled chaos. The new team promises the city as star, not mere backdrop. No surprise they’re talking big: Imax cameras, retina-searing color grading, the whole deal. But if anyone notices Crockett and Tubbs taking down cartel lieutenants in what looks suspiciously like Los Angeles—well, that’s a reality viewers have been rolling their eyes at since long before AI-generated backgrounds became all the rage.

Then there’s the elephant in the room: does the pastels-and-vice formula even land in 2028, when original fans may be more concerned about cholesterol than collaring kingpins? For those who felt the emotional thrum of Jan Hammer’s synth score the first time around, there’s a built-in expectation—nostalgia here is a loaded weapon. Kosinski, though, made “Top Gun: Maverick” into more than a nostalgia recharge; maybe history will repeat. If he threads the needle—leaning into the pulpy drama, hinting at self-aware irony, refusing to hide from the era’s excesses—there’s a shot at something more than just another glossy reboot.

Fans and industry-watchers are left to wonder: will this new “Miami Vice” merely echo what came before, or will it find room to bend the mythos into something relevant—maybe even vital—for a world that sometimes feels as unmoored as Sonny’s speedboat? Hollywood’s nostalgic streak certainly isn’t cooling down in 2025 (if anything, it’s burning hotter, with Stranger Things spin-offs multiplying like rabbits and “Ghostbusters” scheduled for a lunar landing, or whatever passes for escalation these days). There’s safety in resurrecting the past—but perhaps there’s real artistry in facing it, interrogating it, and finding something new swirling in the punchbowl.

So yes—pastel blazers are back, at least for now. As to whether “Miami Vice” reclaims its seat as both a pop-culture lightning rod and a stylish meditation on crime and consequence? That answer lingers, shadowy and elusive, somewhere in the humid Miami night—a thrill, a risk, a glint on the horizon, waiting just beyond the reach of memory.

Picture it: Miami’s skyline in 1985—the air thick and a little lawless, the city burning with pastel neon and promise. Flash forward to 2025, and suddenly, that hazy dream flickers to life again. The buzz on the street? “Miami Vice,” long entombed in a sarcophagus of synth, smugglers, and linen suits, is plotting a crime of its own: a blockbuster resurrection. And no, those aren’t phantom notes of Phil Collins drifting over the biscayne breeze—you’re catching the first ripples of this fever-dream revival.Guiding this powerboat straight through familiar, glitter-soaked waters is Joseph Kosinski, Hollywood’s current maestro of glossy nostalgia (his “Top Gun: Maverick” still pulses in the rearview mirror). This time, he’s swapping Tom Cruise’s flight jacket for Austin Butler’s sockless loafers—Butler poised to slide into Sonny Crockett territory with the kind of chiseled ennui only an Oscar nom can buy. Alongside him, Michael B. Jordan’s Rico Tubbs, ready to trade “Creed” sweat for midnight stakeouts on Ocean Drive. It’d be hard to imagine a more statement pairing for the new generation: two actors with more Uber rides between them than Miami Vice reruns on cable—and yet, the chemistry could be electric.Cynics may mutter—yet another 1980s reboot, as if Hollywood’s entire strategy for 2025 consists of fishing old hits from the canal and giving them a CGI rinse. And it’s a fair point. Nostalgia isn’t exactly in short supply these days; it seems every other major studio is digging up the past faster than Miami PD on a warehouse bust. But Kosinski, for what it’s worth, isn’t shy about his obsession. In a recent chat with Collider, he admitted that, while others his age were geeking out over “Transformers” or “Star Wars,” he was mainlining “Miami Vice,” soaking up the vibe like it was the world’s last mojito. Makes sense—few directors in recent memory have shown this kind of genuine affection for a bygone era, and it’s hard not to root for a filmmaker who admits he’s reanimating his own childhood fever dreams.Of course, the anticipated joyride has hit a few red lights. Talk was that the film—IMAX ambitions and all—would roar into theaters August 2027. Don’t hold your breath beneath the palm trees just yet; the release has drifted to May 2028. Studio politics, scheduling dramas, who knows—Miami may be timeless, but modern film production is not. It does buy the crew ample time to shuffle their soundtrack choices or, one suspects, to reconsider which pastel palette feels the least ironic. In the world of reboots, a year is an eternity; plenty can change—possibly even the leads (just ask any fan of superhero franchises).Still, there’s a kernel of hope here. Alongside Kosinski in the writers’ room, Anthony Yerkovich—the OG creator, who first envisioned the Miami that would spawn a thousand fashion disasters—returns. That alone lends a dose of credibility that’s usually absent from these kinds of retro crimes. Add Oscar darling Dan Gilroy (whose “Nightcrawler” burned bright and weird) and Eric Warren Singer (sharp as ever after “American Hustle”), and suddenly, this script feels less like a payday and more like a genuine caper. Even the official synopsis pulls no punches: this version looks to the show’s earliest DNA, promising “the glamour and corruption of mid-80’s Miami”—not the self-parody of the series’ twilight years, not the rain-soaked grit of Michael Mann’s 2006 detour, but something moodier and, just maybe, more honest.But can a film shot in the 2020s genuinely capture that balmy, slightly reckless Miami that sprawled across TV screens in the Reagan era? After all, “Miami Vice” was never just about red Ferraris or blinding sports coats—it was about a city teetering between beauty and brokenness, culture clash and cocaine-fueled chaos. The new team promises the city as star, not mere backdrop. No surprise they’re talking big: Imax cameras, retina-searing color grading, the whole deal. But if anyone notices Crockett and Tubbs taking down cartel lieutenants in what looks suspiciously like Los Angeles—well, that’s a reality viewers have been rolling their eyes at since long before AI-generated backgrounds became all the rage.Then there’s the elephant in the room: does the pastels-and-vice formula even land in 2028, when original fans may be more concerned about cholesterol than collaring kingpins? For those who felt the emotional thrum of Jan Hammer’s synth score the first time around, there’s a built-in expectation—nostalgia here is a loaded weapon. Kosinski, though, made “Top Gun: Maverick” into more than a nostalgia recharge; maybe history will repeat. If he threads the needle—leaning into the pulpy drama, hinting at self-aware irony, refusing to hide from the era’s excesses—there’s a shot at something more than just another glossy reboot.Fans and industry-watchers are left to wonder: will this new “Miami Vice” merely echo what came before, or will it find room to bend the mythos into something relevant—maybe even vital—for a world that sometimes feels as unmoored as Sonny’s speedboat? Hollywood’s nostalgic streak certainly isn’t cooling down in 2025 (if anything, it’s burning hotter, with Stranger Things spin-offs multiplying like rabbits and “Ghostbusters” scheduled for a lunar landing, or whatever passes for escalation these days). There’s safety in resurrecting the past—but perhaps there’s real artistry in facing it, interrogating it, and finding something new swirling in the punchbowl.So yes—pastel blazers are back, at least for now. As to whether “Miami Vice” reclaims its seat as both a pop-culture lightning rod and a stylish meditation on crime and consequence? That answer lingers, shadowy and elusive, somewhere in the humid Miami night—a thrill, a risk, a glint on the horizon, waiting just beyond the reach of memory.