So in the mid 00s, there was an entire slew of high-profile licensed games based on old classic films like Godfather, Scarface, From Russia with Love and so on. They weren't tied to anything, this was just a fad I suppose. I assume what happened was devs that grew up with these movies wanted to pay tribute to them, and at the time pitching "[famous movie], but GTA" had publishers creaming their pants. But they were actually pretty solid, and the 6th gen aesthetics made them particularly comfy.