Over the last three decades, Brad Bird has been responsible for some of the greatest animated movies ever made — from The Iron Giant to The Incredibles to Ratatouille. But all the while, through live-action jaunts into Tomorrowland and Mission: Impossible, Incredibles sequels and all, Bird has been trying to get one particular passion project off the ground: animated sci-fi noir Ray Gunn. Now, with the long-gestating retro-futuristic movie finally set to take flight at London Film Festival next month ahead of a December streaming release, Netflix has just dropped the first trailer for Brad Bird’s latest animated epic — and you can check it out below;
Sam Rockwell as a Bogart-style private eye? Check! Scarlett Johansson as a femme fatale named Venus Nova? Check! Tom Waits as Ray Gunn’s *checks notes* one-eyed right-hand man/alien? Check! Flying cars, art deco megastructures, and full-on jetpacks? Triple check! Welcome to Metropia, folks — and welcome to Ray Gunn. When Empire spoke to Brad Bird about his passion project earlier this year, the two-time Oscar winner promised viewers are in for “a really good time” here, and this trailer, with all its murder, mystery, and Maltese Falcon-meets-Buck Rogers intrigue certainly suggests that’s precisely what we’re in for with Ray Gunn.
The official synopsis for Bird’s latest animated caper — co-starring Matt Berry, John Ratzenberger, Kathryn Hunter, Bobby Cannavale, Alan Tudyk, Michael Chernus and Patton Oswalt — reads: “In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen 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).”
After an over-thirty-year-long journey to reach our screens, here’s hoping that Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn proves a total blast when it finally arrives on our screens, on Netflix, on December 18. And if you just can’t wait until then, the movie is world premiering at this year’s London Film Festival, so keep an eye out for screenings in London and at partner venues on October 10.
