‘Ray Gunn’ Trailer: Brad Bird’s Noir-Inspired Animated Passion Project Comes to Netflix — SkimNews
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- Brad Bird's "Ray Gunn," an animated film combining film noir and classic sci-fi, will open in select theaters on December 4 — including some 70mm screenings — before streaming on Netflix on December 18, after the streamer released the first trailer this week.
- Netflix released the film's official synopsis: in Metropia, an alternate 1939 future, private eye Raymond Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell) investigates aliens, murder, and multimedia star Venus Nova (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).
- Additional voice cast includes Tom Waits, Alan Tudyk, Matt Berry, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Chernus, Kether Donohue, Michelle Rodriguez, Aasif Mandvi, Matt Jones, Kathryn Hunter, John Ratzenberger, Justin Peck, and Patton Oswalt.
- Brad Bird told IndieWire he declined to pitch the project to Pixar, his longtime creative home, because he wanted to target a slightly older audience — "a little more adult" — than Pixar's lane, calling "Ray Gunn" his first animated film outside Pixar since "The Iron Giant" in 1999.
- Bird is still writing and producing a third "Incredibles" sequel for Pixar, and his animation track record also includes "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille."
- Skydance Animation revived "Ray Gunn" after years of false starts, enabling the holiday-season Netflix release that marks the end of one of animation's most-watched unmade projects.
Why it matters: Brad Bird's deliberate choice to route "Ray Gunn" outside Pixar signals the limits of the Pixar brand's audience ceiling — Bird himself says Pixar's lane can't accommodate a slightly older-skewing animated feature. With Skydance Animation financing and Netflix distributing, the December 18 streaming debut doubles as a test of whether a mid-budget auteur animated film can find a mass audience outside the theatrical-Pixar pipeline.
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