It’s been an awesome year for animation, but I have a feeling the 2026 movie schedule might be saving the best for last. This December, Brad Bird’s first movie since Incredibles 2 is coming to those with a Netflix subscription and the first trailer is here. I’m loving this sneak peek, and what it reminded me about CinemaBlend’s interview with Bird.
Ray Gunn’s First Trailer Has My Hyped For The Netflix Noir
Ray Gunn is a longtime passion project for Bird, who first thought of making his own spin on film noir three decades ago before officially inking a deal with Skydance Animation in 2022. It follows the titular Ray Gunn (voiced by Sam Rockwell), the last human private detective in a futuristic world, and his sidekick Eyera (Tom Waits) as they get involved in a dangerous mystery in the city of Metropia. All we’ve had so far is first look images, but now we have the this awesome trailer!
I have to say this looks super cool, fun and action packed. Another thing that really struck me about the trailer is how important blonde bombshell Scarlett Johansson’s Venus Nova seems to be to the story. Not only is the pop star in the center of the mystery Gunn is trying to unravel, and the detective seems to form a sultry romance with her at the same time, too. I’m totally here for it, and from the filmmaker of Incredibles, Ratatouille and The Iron Giant? This is gonna be good.
What Brad Bird Told Me About Ray Gunn’s Take On Jetpacks
I had the chance to speak to Gunn when he debuted the first footage at San Diego Comic-Con in July. During our interview, he gave us a little something about world-building in his futuristic setting. In Bird’s words:
The jetpacks are sort of like the Ubers of their day. The movie isn't about jetpacks or anything like that. They're very incidental. But, you know those electric scooter things that you get and you ride them until they run out of batteries and then people just leave them in bushes and stuff? So, we do that with jetpacks. So, the jetpacks have X amount of time on them, and then people just kind of leave them around. If your jet pack is treated like that, it might not be the most reliable jetpack.
How about that? I never would have thought of jetpacks having this sort of place in a movie, but I think it says so much about the filmmaker’s approach to Ray Gunn. He’s being really imaginative about the smart and clever ways audiences can experience a futuristic setting like this one.
During our interview, Bird also said he wanted to approach the future from the lens of how they did in 1939 through things like the World’s Fair. He also described his world as a “utopia” that is inhabited by people who “haven’t really progressed” in the same way the city has. I'm so curious to see Mr. Ray Gunn lurk in this world as he tries to solve this exciting murder case.
You can check out Ray Gunn yourself in select theaters on December 4 and Netflix on December 18.
