The first image of Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan as Sonny Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs has arrived, offering the clearest signal yet of how director Joseph Kosinski intends to revive one of television's most influential crime dramas for the big screen. The film, titled Miami Vice '85, is set for release on May 18, 2028, and the newly unveiled still confirms that both leads are stepping into the pastel-soaked, neon-lit world that defined mid-1980s style and attitude.
The project, which has been quietly assembling its cast over recent months, carries a title that makes its timeline explicit. Rather than updating the material to the present day, Miami Vice '85 appears to be reaching back to the exact cultural moment that gave the original series its distinctive aesthetic. The official overview states the film "explores the glamour and corruption of mid-'80s Miami inspired by the pilot episode of Miami Vice," though specific plot details remain under wraps.
Kosinski Tapped to Helm a Beloved Property
Kosinski's involvement gives the production a director with a demonstrated appetite for propulsive, visually driven genre filmmaking. He has spent much of the past decade working at the intersection of practical spectacle and sleek design, and Miami Vice '85 would seem to demand exactly that combination. The original series was as much a mood piece as a police procedural, and any feature adaptation has to reckon with its visual legacy as carefully as its storylines. Kosinski inherits a property whose pilot episode established the template: two undercover detectives navigating a city where the line between law enforcement and criminal enterprise was often blurred.
The choice of Butler and Jordan for the central roles places two of the industry's most in-demand actors at the center of the film. Butler, cast as Crockett, has built a career on transformation, while Jordan, stepping into Tubbs, brings a track record of anchoring both franchise fare and character-driven work. The pairing suggests the studio is positioning Miami Vice '85 as an event release rather than a modest genre exercise, though no budget or box-office projections have been disclosed.
A Deep and Eclectic Supporting Ensemble
Around the two leads, the production has assembled a supporting cast that spans veteran character actors, rising stars, and comedic performers. Alden Ehrenreich, Whitney Peak, and Camila Morrone are all aboard, as are Danny Ramirez and John Leguizamo. Andrew Schulz rounds out the announced lineup, a piece of casting that hints at tonal range the original series frequently deployed - the show could shift from grim violence to wry humor within a single scene, and a cast list this varied suggests the film intends to preserve that balance.
The ensemble's breadth is notable for a crime thriller. Leguizamo brings decades of dramatic and comedic credibility, while Ehrenreich, Peak, and Morrone represent a younger generation of performers whose profiles have risen sharply in recent years. No character details for the supporting players have been released, leaving the specific roles they will occupy a matter of speculation for now.
Positioned as a Crime Thriller With Period Ambitions
Miami Vice '85 is classified as a crime thriller, with English as its original language, and is being produced within the Hollywood studio system. The film's runtime has not been finalized, and no rating has been announced. The credit block lists the project under the title Miami Vice '85, distinguishing it from both the original television series and the 2006 feature adaptation directed by Michael Mann.
The decision to anchor the film to the pilot episode is itself a meaningful creative choice. Pilots often establish a show's visual and narrative grammar before later seasons refine or depart from it, and returning to that source material gives the filmmakers a defined starting point rather than a sprawling continuity to compress. The official synopsis points specifically to the glamour and corruption of the era, two themes the pilot wove together through its depiction of Miami's drug trade and the stylish, often ethically murky world surrounding it.
Whether Miami Vice '85 functions as a standalone story or the launch of a larger franchise remains unclear. The studio has not indicated whether sequels are planned, and the cast's unusually deep bench could support either approach. For the moment, the first-look image is the primary piece of concrete material available to audiences, and it does its job: it confirms the tone, the era, and the two men at the center of it all. With a release date still more than a year and a half away, further marketing materials - a teaser, a full trailer, and any official stills from the production - are expected to follow in the coming months.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
