Brad Bird unveils the first Ray Gunn trailer, bringing his three-decade animated noir project to festivals, theaters and Netflix for audiences in December 2026.
Brad Bird is finally bringing one of his earliest original ideas to the screen. Netflix released the first official trailer for Ray Gunn on September 23, introducing a stylish animated collision of detective noir and retro-futuristic science fiction more than 30 years after Bird first conceived the project.
The trailer arrives as the film builds significant festival momentum. Ray Gunn is scheduled for an October world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, followed by a Red Carpet Premiere at AFI FEST. Its wider rollout begins with select theaters and limited 70mm engagements on December 4, before arriving on Netflix on December 18.
A noir mystery unfolds in Metropia
Ray Gunn takes place in Metropia, an alternate-future city where humans and aliens live together amid corruption, murder and celebrity culture. Bird has described the central concept as a meeting point between 1940s detective noir and the imaginative worlds of pulp science fiction.
Sam Rockwell voices private investigator Raymond Gunn, while Scarlett Johansson plays multimedia star Venus Nova. Tom Waits voices Gunn’s alien partner, Eye-Ra. The supporting cast includes Alan Tudyk, Matt Berry, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Rodriguez, Kathryn Hunter and Patton Oswalt.
Brad Bird revives an idea from early in his career
This Filmmaker Spotlight is especially notable because Ray Gunn is not a recent studio assignment. The project originated near the beginning of Bird’s filmmaking career, making its eventual production a rare example of an original concept surviving decades of industry change.
Bird directs from his original story and co-wrote the screenplay with Matthew Robbins. Skydance Animation produced the film for Netflix, supporting an ambitious production that combines an old-school mystery framework with feature animation and a densely imagined science-fiction setting.
A theatrical and streaming strategy worth watching
The release plan gives Ray Gunn several distinct discovery windows: major festival premieres, select theatrical screenings, limited 70mm presentations and a global streaming launch. For Nollywood and African filmmakers navigating cinema, festival, YouTube and streaming audiences, that layered approach offers a useful example of how format and distribution can become part of a film’s identity.
Most importantly, Ray Gunn places an original filmmaker-driven story at the centre of its campaign. The first trailer now gives audiences their clearest look at how Bird has transformed a three-decade creative ambition into a finished animated feature.
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Sources
Source links used to research and verify this article:
Netflix TudumAmerican Film Institute
Animation World Network
TheWrap
