// ARS TECHNICA — SALUTE
Netflix releases new trailer for Ray Gunn
“It’s hard being the only honest players in a crooked game.”
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.