New Look at Brad Bird's Long-Awaited Animated Sci-Fi Mystery RAY GUNN and Release Date

Netflix gave animation fans something exciting to look forward to during this year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival by sharing a new look at Ray Gunn, the long-awaited animated feature from Brad Bird.

Along with the new footage, the streamer also confirmed that the highly anticipated retrofuturist adventure will begin streaming exclusively on Netflix on December 18.

Bird has been developing this passion project for decades, and judging from everything we've learned so far, Ray Gunn looks like it'll be unlike anything else arriving this year.

Blending classic film noir with vintage visions of the future, the movie is already shaping up to be one of animation's most intriguing releases and could easily find itself in the awards conversation.

The story remains mostly under wraps, but Ray Gunn is set in the sprawling metropolis of Metropia, an alternate future imagined through the lens of 1939. The mystery follows private investigator Raymond Gunn as he's pulled into a case involving aliens, murder, and a glamorous multimedia celebrity named Venus Nova.

Bird previously explained where the film's unique style came from, saying: “People don’t call futuristic weapons Ray Guns anymore. That’s an older term. So that automatically made me think of if you’re going to do a future detective movie.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if it kind of looked like what we associate with classic detective movies? So that’s from the 30s and the 40s. This movie takes place in the future as seen from 1939. So it’s Buck Rogers meets the Maltese Falcon.”

That concept makes for a fascinating and cool visual playground, combining retro science fiction with the shadowy atmosphere of classic detective stories.

While the film may lean a little more toward older audiences than Bird's previous animated work, it still carries the heartfelt storytelling and craftsmanship that fans have come to expect.

One thing Bird was especially eager to emphasize is that every frame was created through traditional animation techniques instead of motion capture.

He explained: “I think the thing that I’m really unusually happy about is that we took on some really tough-to-do animation, but it is still animation. Some people will say, well, you know, that scene is subtle, so you must have done mo-cap or something like that.

“And I will proudly go, no, it was animation and animators acted out the scenes… It doesn’t look like live action. It feels like live action, but it doesn’t look like it. It’s a little bit like dance… The medium of animation is amazing.”

Leading the voice cast is Sam Rockwell, who plays private detective Raymond Gunn, alongside Scarlett Johansson as the mysterious multimedia icon Venus Nova. Joining them are Tom Waits as Gunn's alien partner Eyera, John Ratzenberger, and Jamie Costa.

Bird directs the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins. They're also producing alongside Lisa Beroud, with Skydance Animation's John Lasseter, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg serving as producers as well.

Another reason to get excited is the return of Michael Giacchino, who is composing the score. Giacchino has collaborated with Bird on nearly all of his films, scoring everything except The Iron Giant, so having him back for Ray Gunn feels like the perfect creative reunion.

This marks Bird's first feature film in eight years. Throughout his career, he's delivered one acclaimed project after another with films including The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Tomorrowland, and Incredibles 2.

Ray Gunn actually began life as an original screenplay Bird and Robbins developed back in the mid-1990s. Despite years of interest, the project remained dormant until Skydance Animation finally helped bring it to life in 2022.

The lengthy production also influenced Bird's career in another significant way. He ultimately stepped away from directing Incredibles 3 so he could focus on Ray Gunn. He still wrote the screenplay for the Pixar sequel and reportedly handpicked Peter Sohn to direct the film, which is currently slated for release in June 2028.

It's been a long road to get Ray Gunn onto the screen, but after decades of waiting, fans will finally get to experience Bird's stylish animated sci-fi mystery when it premieres exclusively on Netflix on December 18.