Netflix releases new trailer for Ray Gunn





Brad Bird’s got a Gunn

Netflix releases new trailer for Ray Gunn

“It’s hard being the only honest players in a crooked game.”


Jennifer Ouellette

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animated still of man mid-air with jet pack strapped to his back in a futuristic city. A flying car is in the background


Credit:

YouTube/Netflix


Credit:

YouTube/Netflix




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We caught the first trailer for the upcoming Netflix animated film Ray Gunn in September and were charmed by director Brad Bird’s blend of a Jetsons-like future with classic 1930s noir detective thrillers. Bird has described it as a mashup of The Maltese Falcon and Buck Rogers, and the latest trailer definitely gives off that energy.

As previously reported, Bird has directed some of our all-time favorite animated films: The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), and Ratatouille (2007), with the latter two snagging well-deserved Oscar wins. He’s been kicking around the idea for Ray Gunn for the last 30 years, working on his many other film projects while the Ray Gunn script—co-written by Matthew Robbins, who also co-wrote 1987’s Batteries Not Included with Bird—“stayed in a filing cabinet at Warner Brothers,” the director said earlier this year.

The film’s inspiration came when Bird heard the opening of the B-52s’ “Planet Claire” (a personal favorite that also provides the soundtrack to the new trailer) and initially thought it was a cover of Henry Mancini’s theme music from the classic TV show Peter Gunn. Bird is a longtime fan of film noir and hard-boiled detectives, and he came up with the idea of a futuristic detective named Ray Gunn (a pun on “raygun,” of course). “It’s film noir and a hard-boiled detective story, but it’s got a lot more comedy and a lot more action than the average film noir,” said Bird.

Per the official premise: “In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell) is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and a multimedia star named Venus Nova (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).”

Unlike Bird’s Pixar fare, Ray Gunn targets a slightly older demographic with more mature themes.

In addition to Rockwell and Johansson, the all-star voice cast includes Tom Waits as Ray’s one-eyed alien colleague, Eyera (pronounced Ira); Matt Berry as alien mob boss Francis “Sluggy” Xavier; Bobby Cannavale as Venus’ husband, who hires Ray to spy on his wife; Alan Tudyk as Venus’ manager, Barry Vogel; Michael Chernus as a studio fixer named Sam; and Patton Oswalt as a hologram. Bird himself provides the voices for Xavier’s alien henchmen, Gunsol and Musker. Kathryn Hunter, John Ratzenberger, and Jamie Costa will also voice as-yet-undisclosed characters.

Ray Gunn releases on Netflix on December 18, 2026—the same day both Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part 3 hit theaters, so it will be alternative family fare for those disinclined to brave the holiday theatrical crowds. The film will also screen in select theaters on December 4, 2026.

Photo of Jennifer Ouellette


Jennifer Ouellette

Senior Writer
Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban.


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