Netflix has released the first official trailer for Ray Gunn, the highly anticipated animated sci-fi noir feature directed by two-time Academy Award winner Brad Bird. The trailer offers a detailed look at the movie’s distinct visual style, described by the filmmaker as a blend of "The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers". Alongside the footage, the streaming platform confirmed that the film will receive a limited theatrical release in select locations before its global streaming debut in December 2026.
Produced by Skydance Animation and animated in partnership with Cinesite, Ray Gunn represents a major creative milestone for Brad Bird, who previously helmed critical and commercial hits such as The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. The film is based on an original story conceived by Brad Bird in the 1990s, making it a passion project nearly thirty years in development.
The World of Metropia: An Alternate View of the Future
The debut trailer highlights the central setting of Metropia, a vast metropolitan landscape built upon a unique premise: an alternate future imagined entirely from a 1939 perspective. This creative choice infuses the film’s science-fiction elements with an era-specific Art Deco architectural aesthetic.
The panoramic vistas showcased in the trailer include streamlined skyscrapers reaching multiple miles into the sky, flying cars, airborne traffic lanes, monorails, and neon billboards. Brad Bird noted that establishing the environment was crucial to the film’s narrative structure.
"I think first and foremost, you're setting up the city as a character because the entire movie just about takes place there, and that's unusual for an animated film," Brad Bird explained in an interview detailing the visual design.
The technical demands of the project were met using modern computer-generated (CG) animation techniques. While the project was originally envisioned as a hand-drawn 2D feature in the 1990s, Brad Bird credited advancements in CG technology for enabling dynamic camera movements and a level of cinematic naturalism that matches the scale of the world. Character designs were handled by Pixar veterans Teddy Newton and Tony Fucile, utilizing stylized caricature to give the human and alien inhabitants distinct visual profiles.
A Star-Studded Voice Ensemble
The plot of Ray Gunn centers on Raymond "Ray" Gunn, voiced by Sam Rockwell, who is described as the last human private investigator operating within a society where humans and aliens coexist. Gunn finds himself drawn into a complex web of corporate corruption, underworld figures, and an overarching murder mystery.
The case revolves around a high-profile multimedia pop star named Venus Nova, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, who becomes entangled in a career-threatening scandal. The trailer introduces Gunn’s loyal assistant, Eyera, a green, one-eyed alien voiced by musician and actor Tom Waits. Eyera's character acts as a living camera mounted on a tripod with mechanical, spider-like legs, assisting Gunn during field investigations.
Netflix and Skydance Animation also revealed an extensive supporting cast to flesh out the world of Metropia. The vocal ensemble includes:
- Matt Berry as Francis "Slugsy" Xavier, the film's central antagonist.
- Kathryn Hunter as Vanzine, a towering, twelve-appendaged alien office manager.
- Patton Oswalt, Alan Tudyk, Bobby Cannavale, and Michael Chernus in supporting roles.
- John Ratzenberger, Jamie Costa, Michelle Rodriguez, and Aasif Mandvi rounding out the cast.
Production History and Technical Scale
The road to bringing Ray Gunn to the screen spans several decades, with the original script predating the production of Brad Bird's 1999 animated classic The Iron Giant. After facing numerous production bottlenecks and studio pivots over the years, the film found a stable path forward when it was revived under John Lasseter at Skydance Animation, maintaining its distribution commitment to Netflix despite broader shifts in studio partnerships.
The project features a score composed by Michael Giacchino, a long-time collaborator of Brad Bird who previously composed the music for The Incredibles and Ratatouille. The production design was led by Paul Felix, with Wendell Luebbe serving as art director and Erik Smitt managing the cinematography. Reports indicate the film carries a substantial production budget exceeding $150 million, highlighting the scale of the visual effects spearheaded by Cinesite.
Release Schedule and Special Presentations
Ray Gunn is scheduled to make its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 10, 2026, with subsequent partner screenings arranged through October 17.
Following its festival debut, Netflix will grant the film a limited theatrical release starting on December 4, 2026. Notably, this theatrical run will feature limited exhibitions on premium 70mm film formats. Securing a 70mm print run is a rare occurrence for modern animated features, reflecting a specialized push to showcase the rich grain and detailed artistry of Metropia’s environments on large-format screens.
The movie will then become available globally for streaming on Netflix on December 18, 2026.
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