Director Brad Bird’s long-awaited animated sci-fi crime thriller Ray Gunn
will debut on Netflix on Dec. 18, 2026, following a limited 70mm theatrical release on Dec. 4, 2026. The adult-oriented neo-noir movie features the vocal talents of Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Waits.
What is the plot of Ray Gunn?
The adult-oriented plot revolves around a hard-boiled private eye in Metropia named Raymond Ray
Gunn, voiced by Sam Rockwell. He operates alongside his one-eyed alien partner Eyera, voiced by Tom Waits. Venus Nova, a sassy pop music starlet voiced by Scarlett Johansson, gets embroiled in a scandal that threatens to cancel her career and possibly end her life.
Brad Bird and Matthew Robbins co-wrote the murder mystery screenplay. Bird previously collaborated with Robbins on the script for the 1987 film Batteries Not Included
.
How did the elevator pitch shape the retro-futuristic world?
Bird boiled the concept down to a simple crossover concept. The elevator pitch that I boiled it down to is ‘Buck Rogers’ meets ‘The Maltese Falcon,’
Bird told Discussing Film regarding the movie’s influences. You take the slightly more naïve, optimistic design view of the future, and then you add a dark underbelly to it.
Unlike grimy dystopian cities typically seen in cyberpunk media, Bird wanted a different visual contrast. In ‘Blade Runner,’ it’s acid rain and this future you don’t want to be in,
Bird said. But I thought there was something fun about juxtaposing a positive vision of the city of the future, and then showing that still there’s going to be corruption and lies.
Skydance Animation produced the project.
Why did Ray Gunn take three decades to reach the screen?
The idea for Ray Gunn
bounced around Hollywood since the late 1980s when Bird was with Amblin Entertainment. Its plot drew inspiration from Blake Edwards’ Peter Gunn
movie, Will Eisner’s The Spirit
, and the B-52’s tune Planet Claire
, but was set in an alternate future featuring humans and aliens.
After Bird worked on the first eight seasons of The Simpsons
, Ray Gunn
was set up at Turner Feature Animation in the mid-1990s. The studio eventually shelved the project before Turner merged with Warner Bros., where Bird instead directed 1999’s The Iron Giant
. Even while directing live-action films like 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
and 2015’s Tomorrowland
, or working on Pixar projects, Bird kept the passion project alive.
Who else stars in the voice cast?
Alongside Rockwell, Johansson, and Waits, the movie features an ensemble voice cast. Alan Tudyk, Matt Berry, Bobby Cannavale, Michale Chernus, and Patton Oswalt round out the principal vocal lineup.
The production also reunites Bird with former Pixar Chief John Lasseter, who delivered several of the studio’s biggest hits. Lasseter left Pixar in 2018 to head up the animation division at Skydance the following year. Bird eventually moved on from Incredibles 3
in 2021 to join Lasseter at Skydance Animation, officially setting up the movie at Netflix.
When does Ray Gunn premiere in theaters and streaming?
Netflix scheduled Ray Gunn
for a streaming debut on Dec. 18, 2026. Prior to its streaming release, the film will receive a limited 70mm theatrical release starting on Dec. 4, 2026.