9 best movies and shows to watch while you wait for the GTA 6 release day

GTA 6 returns fans to the sun-streaked, neon-tinged setting of Vice City, a parodized version of Miami, Florida first introduced in 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and later revisited in 2006’s Vice City Stories. You’ll take control of Army dropout Jason Duval and Liberty City-born Lucia Caminos in what is bound to be an exhilarating thrillride of thievery, backstabbing, and gunplay set in a world reportedly 2.5 times larger than its predecessor.

Rockstar Games has never been shy about its love of crime cinema. From GTA 3 onward, the series has borrowed the style and atmosphere of some of the greatest heist films, crime dramas, and thrillers ever made, taking inspiration from Scarface, Heat, Boyz n the Hood, The Sopranos, Point Break, The Town, Fast Five and plenty more. GTA 6 appears to continue that tradition, with its Bonnie-and-Clyde-styled leads and a setting that evokes decades of iconic movies and television.

While nothing can replace actually playing GTA 6, the following films and series offer a glimpse into what helped inspire Rockstar's next blockbuster. If you're looking for something to watch while counting down to release day, or simply want to get into the Vice City groove, start here.

1 Pain & Gain (2013)

From early trailers and photos, GTA 6 looks like it’s leaning harder into Florida’s bizarre culture than ever before, and Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain is the closest thing to a feature-length version of that wild and wacky world. The 2013 crime comedy brings together an unlikely trio in Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie, who star as a group of Miami bodybuilders whose get-rich-quick scheme spirals into a criminal conspiracy unlike any other.

Pain & Gain captures a version of Florida that feels eerily identical to the one Rockstar is building in Leonida, with its tapestry of ridiculous people chasing fortune through increasingly terrible decisions. Almost every character feels like someone you might encounter in a GTA side mission, while the movie’s blend of dark humor and criminal incompetence often makes it feel like a live-action parody of the series itself.

The craziest part is that Pain & Gain is based on true events.

Where to watch: Pluto TV

2 Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

You can’t talk about criminal couples in American pop culture without talking about Bonnie and Clyde. Dramatizing the real-life exploits of Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde is one of the clearest points of comparison for GTA 6’s Lucia and Jason. The image of two lovers against the world is one that Bonnie and Clyde practically codified for modern crime fiction.

Even today, the film remains influential for its blend of violence, dark comedy, social commentary, and anti-establishment attitude, all of which helped inspire generations of filmmakers and crime stories afterward. It led to a literal cultural shift in Hollywood, spawning a period that discarded old studio glamour in favor of gritty, morally ambiguous realism. Bonnie and Clyde also put the late Gene Hackman on the map, who at the time was a struggling journeyman actor working bit parts and minor TV roles. His portrayal as Buck Barrow in the film, Clyde’s boisterous and fiercely loyal older brother, earned him his first Academy Award nomination.

Where to watch: Prime Video

3 Burn Notice (2007)

Although Burn Notice differs slightly from all the other picks on this list as it’s less a crime thriller and more of a spy comedy series, the show lends itself to fans of GTA in its hilarious premise. The 111-episode series follows Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan), a CIA spy who suddenly gets burned and must take on odd jobs with shady clientele throughout the sunny locale of Miami to earn a living.

Much like in GTA games, Michael Westen has his own slew of wacky compatriots, including the retired Navy SEAL Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell), the explosives expert Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), and Jesse Porter (Coby Bell), who joins the team in later seasons. Burn Notice is an unconventional spin on the procedural format, introducing a client-of-the-week style series set in a town known for its insane characters, making it the perfect appetizer for GTA 6.

Where to watch: Disney Plus

4 Out of Sight (1998)

A few years before solidifying his transition from television actor to A-lister with Ocean’s 11, George Clooney starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in a crime comedy directed by the great Steven Soderbergh. The film adapts Elmore Leonard’s 1996 novel Out of Sight, casting Clooney as the suave career bank robber Jack Foley, a role seemingly tailor-made for the budding Hollywood star.

After successfully breaking out of prison, the country's most notorious bank robber finds himself face-to-face with the girl of his dreams. Only Karen Sisco (Lopez) isn’t just a smart and spunky woman, but a Federal Marshal out to arrest him. The story kicks off in Miami but eventually moves to Detroit, where several notable co-stars, like Don Cheadle, Viola Davis, and Isaiah Washington are introduced in hilarious fashion. It’s an interesting crime thriller expertly blended with comedy that feels right at home for GTA fans, and even sits in the same cinematic universe as other Leonard properties, like Jackie Brown (1997), Justified (2010), and Justified: City Primeval (2023).

Where to watch: Prime Video

5 Night Moves (1975)

Released eight years after Bonnie and Clyde, Night Moves saw director Arthur Penn trade outlaw lovers for a sun-soaked detective mystery, with Gene Hackman returning in the lead role as private investigator Harry Moseby. Much like Chinatown before it, the neo-noir follows a seemingly straightforward missing-person case that gradually unravels into a web of corruption, crime, and deception stretching from California to the Florida Keys.

Night Moves isn't centered on criminals pulling dangerous heists, but rather focuses on the people caught in the orbit of crime. The movie paints Florida as a beautiful but morally decaying place where everyone seems to be hiding something, an atmosphere that feels surprisingly relevant to GTA 6's version of Leonida. The film’s greatest strength is that sense of overriding unease at every turn. Moseby spends most of the story trying to make sense of a world that becomes increasingly chaotic the deeper he digs, creating a feeling that the truth is always just out of reach, and perhaps was never meant to be unearthed in the first place.

Where to watch: Prime Video

6 Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami (2021)

Directed by Billy Corben, the only documentary on this list aptly focuses on two childhood friends who built one of the largest cocaine trafficking operations in American history while becoming folk heroes in parts of Miami. Through extensive interviews and archival footage, the six-part series paints a picture of South Florida during the height of the cocaine boom, when drug money flowed through Miami and helped transform the city into a cultural and economic powerhouse.

The documentary feels almost unbelievable at times, yet much of it sounds like something straight out of a GTA storyline. More than any fictional movie on this list, The Kings of Miami offers valuable context for understanding why Rockstar keeps returning to Florida as a setting. The absurd criminal schemes, eccentric characters, and excess on display often feel stranger than fiction, making it easy to see how decades of real-life headlines eventually evolved into what Vice City looks like today.

The series also serves as a spiritual successor to Corben's acclaimed 2006 documentary, Cocaine Cowboys, which chronicled Miami's cocaine trade during the 1970s and 1980s through interviews with traffickers, law enforcement officials, and hitmen. Together, the two projects form an essential crash course in the criminal history that helped inspire one of gaming's most iconic locations.

Where to watch: Netflix

7 Gun Crazy (1950)

Often cited as one of the earliest examples of the "lovers on the run" crime story that would later influence everything from Bonnie and Clyde to True Romance, Joseph H. Lewis’s Gun Crazy was well ahead of its time. It stars Peggy Cummins as Annie Laurie Starr and John Dall as Bart Tare, two gun-obsessed lovers whose relationship quickly spirals into a life of robberies and reckless abandon.

Despite being more than 70 years old, the noir classic still feels remarkably modern. Its focus on character relationships, particularly between Bart and Annie, rather than elaborate criminal schemes helps the story hold up, while several of its action scenes were groundbreaking for the era. One famous bank robbery sequence was filmed in a single extended take, creating a sense of realism that many crime films wouldn't achieve for decades.

Where to watch: Tubi

8 The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Few movies capture the exact feel GTA 6 is going for better than The Place Beyond the Pines, an unassuming 2012 crime drama with loads of heart. Ryan Gosling plays a down-on-his-luck stunt driver who, following the sudden birth of his son, takes to robbing banks to provide for his newfound family. Opposite Gosling is Bradley Cooper as Avery Cross, an ambitious police officer stuck in a department embroiled in corruption.

The title of the film gets its name from the setting of Schenectady, New York. It’s derived from the loose translation of the Mohawk language’s "skahnéhtati," which means "beyond the pines.” The Place Beyond the Pines offers a similar setup to Rockstar’s next big hit with a couple looking to make ends meet in a world that feels out to get them. It’s a rare heart-wrenching crime thriller that follows a three-act triptych as if you’re bouncing between characters just like in GTA 5.

Where to watch: Prime Video

9 Miami Vice (1984)

Michael Mann’s glitzy 1984 cop drama laid the groundwork that would inevitably define TV police procedurals for years to come. Starring Don Johnson as James “Sonny” Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs, Miami Vice was — and to some extent still is — a one-of-a-kind experience that put you in the shoes of undercover police officers at the height of South Florida’s drug trade.

Although it’s a bit dated today, Miami Vice remains an utter classic with some of the most electrifying soundtracks per season and an extensive guest list of early Hollywood and music stars, like Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson, Jimmy Smits, Phil Collins, and Miles Davis. The series served as the defining blueprint for Rockstar’s Vice City, with developers including several nods to the show, like the same iconic Ferraris — the 1972 Daytona Spyder and 1986 Testarossa — driven by Sonny Crockett, and even a Phil Collins cameo in Vice City Stories.

Although it might not be set in the 1980s like its predecessor, GTA 6 still seemingly has its own slew of pastel style from the era, largely by way of its glamorous pre-order bonuses in the Vintage Vice City pack. Miami Vice is a solid show to get you in the Vice City mood, but you can always watch Michael Mann’s 2006 remake starring Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell if you want a more contemporary feel. The choice is yours.

Where to watch: Tubi