Netflix drops first look images and voice cast for the 2-time Oscar winner’s highly anticipated sci-fi noir animated feature set for release later this year.
Netflix has just released 3 first-look images from two-time Oscar-winning director Brad Bird’s highly anticipated sci-fi noir animated feature, Ray Gunn, and announced that Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits have joined the voice cast. A planned 2026 release was also shared; assumptions are at this point the film will bypass theaters and go right to streaming, though that is unconfirmed. Bird of course is the filmmaker behind The Incredibles and Incredibles 2, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant, and the live-action Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Rockwell voices private eye Raymond Gunn, Johansson voices Venus Nova and Waits voices Eyera in the Skydance Animation production, directed by Bird from an original story by Bird and a screenplay by Bird and Matthew Robbins.
Set in Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, the story follows private investigator Raymond Gunn as he becomes entangled in a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova.
"Ray Gunn has been in my mind for over 30 years," said Bird. "The film is a blend of sci-fi and classic detective movies from the '40s... it's Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers. I've been a fan of both of those sort of genres, and blending them together seemed fun, and a chance to play with a lot of very cinematic elements, and extreme characters."
"There’s a big chunk of people who don’t watch animation," he added. "That’s a group I’m anxious to persuade because it’s an amazing art form that is way too limited in people’s minds. Animation as a medium is too interesting to limit what kind of stories can be told."
"Having the opportunity to collaborate with Brad Bird is a career milestone for me; I have loved his work my entire life," said Johansson. "This project is so uniquely special because it is a total realization of where Brad is currently on his artistic journey. I can’t wait for audiences to see this extraordinary animation that looks like nothing else out there."
The film is produced by John Lasseter, Bird, Lisa Beroud, David Ellison and Dana Goldberg for Skydance Animation. AWN previously reported in February 2022 that Skydance Animation had acquired the rights to Bird’s project, which had been in development for years. At that time, Bird said he’s been wanting to make Ray Gunn for a long time, and that he’s “crazy excited to create something new, thrilling, and intensely cinematic.”
Ray Gunn is part of Netflix’s slate of original animated features, which includes titles such as KPop Demon Hunters, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Nimona, The Sea Beast, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, I Lost My Body, Klaus, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, In Your Dreams, Leo, Back to the Outback and the upcoming Steps.
Source: Netflix
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
