Ray Gunn Trailer: Brad Bird’s Sci-Fi Noir Sets December Release

Brad Bird is bringing a private eye to the future. Netflix has released the official trailer for Ray Gunn, an animated detective mystery starring Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits. The film opens in select theaters December 4, 2026, including limited 70mm screenings, before streaming on Netflix December 18.

Bird, the filmmaker behind The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, has spent more than three decades developing Ray Gunn. The trailer offers a moving look at Metropia, a city shaped by a 1939 vision of tomorrow. Cars fly, people and aliens share the streets, and Art Deco skyscrapers climb into the clouds. Beneath all that gleaming architecture, there is a murder mystery waiting to be solved.

What Is Ray Gunn About?

Sam Rockwell voices Raymond Gunn, an old-school private detective in a world where tiny machines called “pry bots” have taken over much of the investigative legwork. Ray and his one-eyed alien partner, Eye-Ra, still prefer to work a case on the ground. Their latest investigation pulls Ray toward Venus Nova, a famous and controversial star whose orbit includes scandal, danger and plenty of people with something to hide.

Scarlett Johansson voices Venus, while Tom Waits plays Eye-Ra. The trailer leans into the contrast at the heart of the movie: Metropia looks like a bright promise of the future, but Ray keeps finding the grime underneath. The flying cars and towering cityscape give the mystery a spectacular setting; Ray’s weary detective persona gives it a familiar noir pulse.

Brad Bird Mixes Detective Noir With Retro Sci-Fi

Bird has described the project as a meeting of classic 1940s detective stories and science fiction. That combination comes through in the preview’s visual language. Ray Gunn has the shadows, star power and suspicious associates of a hardboiled mystery, rendered inside an animated city built for impossible heights and alien encounters.

The premise gives Bird room for a grown-up detective caper while retaining the visual imagination that makes his films distinctive. He has also spoken about wanting audiences to see animation as a medium capable of telling many kinds of stories.

When Does Ray Gunn Come Out?

Ray Gunn opens in select theaters December 4, 2026, with limited 70mm screenings. It begins streaming December 18 on Netflix. See Netflix’s trailer announcement for more about the film, and visit the Ray Gunn page on Netflix to add it to your watchlist.