Following a rave reception at its world premiere during the 70th BFI London Film Festival, Netflix has debuted a full-length official trailer for Brad Bird's highly anticipated Ray Gunn, offering a stunning new look at what's being hailed as one of the best animated films of the year!
While plot details have mostly remained under wraps, the film's synopsis teases, “In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and a multimedia star named Venus Nova.”
Currently boasting a 94% Certified Fresh rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it sure seems as though the Incredibles director has yet another animated classic on his hands. He tells Netflix Tudum, “The elevator pitch I came up with is The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers. I like both of those genres, and blending them together seemed fun, and a chance to play with a lot of very cinematic elements and extreme characters.”
Sam Rockwell (Iron Man 2; Vice) voices private investigator Raymond Gunn, while Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow; Jurassic World Rebirth) lends her voice to multimedia star Venus Nova, and Tom Waits (Seven Psychopaths; Bram Stoker's Dracula) plays Ray's one-eyed alien colleague, Eye-Ra.
The supporting cast is rounded out by Bobby Cannavale (Ant-Man; The Irishman), Alan Tudyk (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Superman), Matt Berry (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water; A Minecraft Movie), Michelle Rodriguez (Fast X; Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Michael Chernus (Spider-Man: Homecoming; Men in Black 3), Patton Oswalt (Eternals; Ratatouille), Brad Bird (The Incredibles; The Iron Giant), Kathryn Hunter (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Poor Things), Kether Donohue (Pitch Perfect; The Bay), John Ratzenberger (The Empire Strikes Back; Toy Story), Jamie Costa (Bring Him to Me; Robot Riot), Aasif Mandvi (Spider-Man 2; The Last Airbender), Matt Jones (Brightburn; Red State), and Justin Peck (West Side Story; Maestro).
Bird is directing from a script he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio; Crimson Peak), and is also producing alongside Lisa Beroud and Skydance Animation's John Lasseter, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg.
This marks Bird's first feature in eight years. His past directing credits—including The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Tomorrowland, and Incredibles 2—have largely earned widespread critical acclaim and commercial success.
Bird's frequent collaborator Michael Giacchino is also attached to compose the score, which is certainly music to our ears. Giacchino has scored five of Bird's six previous features, with The Iron Giant being the sole exception.
Ray Gunn originated as a script developed by Bird and Robbins in the mid-'90s, though it wasn't until 2022—when Skydance Animation stepped forward—that the project finally received the green light. Its extended production schedule ultimately led Bird to step away from directing duties on Disney/Pixar's Incredibles 3, which is slated for a June 2028 release. However, he still penned the script and handpicked Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur; Elemental) as his replacement on the threequel.
Ray Gunn hits select theaters and limited 70mm screens on December 4 before streaming exclusively on Netflix starting December 18!
Watch the new trailer below:
In an alternate 1939, in the giant futuristic city of Metropia – a corrupt world where aliens are the dominant species – down-trodden PI Ray Gunn investigates a murder. But all is not what it seems. Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) delivers a film with a pitch-perfect script, stunning design and a fantastic voice cast that includes Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits. It’s first-rate filmmaking for all ages.