With less than a week to go until the release of GTA 6 – aka the biggest entertainment release of all time – the boss of GTA publisher Take-Two isn't ruling out a GTA movie or TV show, but suggests one hasn't happened yet because they're "very, very selective" about who they work with.
Speaking on The David Rubenstein Show, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked why, after 30 years and six mainline games, there still hasn't been a GTA adaptation, saying in response: "We're very careful about line extensions [adaptations in other mediums] because this is a creative company and our goal is to make the best entertainment on Earth.
"We would make a movie or a television show based on our IP if our creative teams were passionate about it," Zelnick continued. "If they thought that would somehow engage and delight our consumers. It's a high bar to do that, and of course there's always the risk of failure. So we don't rule it out, but we're very, very selective."
Video game adaptations are currently all the rage in Hollywood. 2026 alone saw the release of Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat 2, Street Fighter, Iron Lung, Exit 8, Return to Silent Hill, and the back half of Fallout season 2, and 2027 looks to be even bigger for video games on screen with The Legend of Zelda movie, A Minecraft Movie 2, Sonic 4, and potentially a wave of TV shows set to release. GTA is a unique case, however, and given its scale, it's arguable that Rockstar and Take-Two would have more to lose than gain from a GTA movie or TV show if any adaptation can't live up to the medium-defining legacy of the games.
That said, imagine a GTA movie directed by one of the crime movie greats – a Michael Mann or a Martin Scorsese. Could Rockstar resist if one of the legendary filmmakers who informed much of their work wanted to return the favor? For now, the closest we have to a GTA movie is the 2015 docudrama The Gamechangers, which stars Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe as then Rockstar Games President Sam Houser and depicts the legal battle with Florida attorney Jack Thompson over the supposed psychological effects of violent games. Rockstar, famously, weren't fans, tweeting: "Was Basil Brush busy? What exactly is this random, made-up bollocks?"
As for GTA 6, the map for the long-awaited Vice City-set game just leaked, and it could be teasing a UFO Easter egg. For that and much more, head on over to our countdown to GTA 6 landing page.
GTA 6 releases on November 19. For more, check out our list of the best video game movies, and our guide to all the upcoming video game movies and shows heading our way.
