Ray Gunn has a new trailer, and it gives a clearer look at the animated detective movie Brad Bird has wanted to make for decades. Sam Rockwell voices Raymond Gunn, a private investigator working in Metropia, a city that looks like a 1930s idea of the future. Flying cars and robots exist alongside old-fashioned detective work. Scarlett Johansson voices Venus Nova, a famous singer who becomes central to Ray’s case.
The trailer shows why this is a different sort of big animated release for Bird. The mystery involves murder and corruption, and the city has both glamorous rooms and less welcoming places. It is still a PG movie, but the setup borrows from detective films that were made for adults. Bird is not hiding the fact that he likes those films. In an earlier Netflix interview, he gave a simple description of the idea:
The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers.
Who are Ray and Venus?
Ray is a detective whose way of working is becoming outdated. Small surveillance robots can now do much of the legwork, but he and his alien partner Eye-Ra still follow leads in person. Tom Waits voices Eye-Ra. When Venus enters the case, Ray has to deal with people around a star whose fame makes every part of the investigation harder. The new footage offers the setup without telling us who is behind the murders.
Venus is not just a face on a billboard. Netflix describes her as one of Metropia’s biggest and most controversial celebrities, and Johansson’s performance is a major part of the trailer. The film’s art gives Metropia huge buildings, neon signs and flying traffic, but the people in the story still have ordinary reasons to lie, hide something or ask for help. That is what makes the detective plot easy to follow even when the setting is strange.
Who’s who in Ray Gunn?
More cast
- Eye-RaPlayed by Tom Waits
When can you watch it?
Netflix says Ray Gunn will open in select theaters on December 4, 2026, with limited 70mm screenings, before it reaches Netflix on December 18. The film is not streaming now. Theater locations and dates may vary, so check local listings if you want to see it on a big screen. Netflix is the confirmed streaming home later in December.
Bird previously directed The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Ray Gunn has been in development for more than 30 years, according to his Netflix interview. The new trailer is the best look yet at what the film actually is: a detective story with aliens and advanced machines, led by three distinctive voices. The next useful details will be theater listings, a full voice-cast list and more about the case itself. For now, the central mystery is still under wraps.
For the cast, images and viewing details, see our Ray Gunn movie page.
