30 Years in the Making — Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn Is Netflix’s Most Ambitious Animated Film Yet

Imagine The Maltese Falcon crashing headfirst into Buck Rogers — with aliens, jetpacks, and an Art Deco city that never stops growing. That’s Ray Gunn, the passion project that two-time Oscar winner Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) has been dreaming about for over three decades. And it’s finally almost here.

Ray Gunn: Everything Need to Know

What Is Ray Gunn About?

In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as imagined from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn (Sam Rockwell) is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder, and a multimedia star named Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson).

In Bird’s vision of Metropia, cities just kept growing taller and more streamlined — cars could fly, and people navigated life with jetpacks — built on an Art Deco-inspired, pre-World War II sense of optimism.

Bird himself sums it up perfectly: “The film is a blend of sci-fi and classic detective movies from the ’40s — it’s Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers.” whats-on-netflix

The Voice Cast

Sam Rockwell voices Raymond Gunn, the last human private detective. Scarlett Johansson voices Venus Nova, the world’s most famous pop star whose scandals threaten to destroy her career — and may even cost her life. Tom Waits plays Eyera, Ray’s most trusted compatriot, who also happens to be a one-eyed alien. Wikipedia

Johansson called working with Bird a career milestone, saying: “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.” whats-on-netflix

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A Dream Team Behind the Camera

Bird reassembled his frequent collaborators — music composer Michael Giacchino (who has scored every Bird film since The Incredibles), character designers Teddy Newton and Tony Fucile, editor Darren T. Holmes, and storyboard artist Jeffrey Lynch. Wikipedia

Ray Gunn will be the third feature to emerge from the multi-year deal between Netflix and Skydance Animation, following Spellbound (2024) and Swapped (2026).

Why This Could Win Awards

Since his directorial debut The Iron Giant in 1999, Brad Bird has been challenging audiences’ expectations of what animated films can do — and who they’re for. “There’s a big chunk of people who don’t watch animation,” Bird has said. “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.”

With a $150M+ budget, Hollywood’s most acclaimed animation director, and a cast that reads like an Oscar night guest list, Ray Gunn is shaping up to be a serious awards contender.

Learn more about the noir genre that inspired this film on Wikipedia.

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