Ray Gunn arrives at the BFI London Film Festival today with strong early reviews: 93 percent from 15 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a production history that stretches back thirty years.
Brad Bird conceived the project from a Peter Gunn TV trailer and the B-52s song "Planet Claire." In the mid-1990s, Turner Feature Animation was attached to produce it; the 1996 Turner/Time Warner merger ended that plan. Bird left to make The Iron Giant at Warner Bros. Feature Animation instead. The story sat dormant until Skydance Animation revived it in 2022. Bird consulted Chinatown writer Robert Towne while developing the script and stepped away from directing Incredibles 3 to see it through. Peter Sohn replaced him on that project.
The film is set in Metropia, a futuristic city imagined as if 1939 never ended. Sam Rockwell voices Ray Gunn, the last human private detective, drawn into a case involving alien crime bosses and a pop star's scandal. Scarlett Johansson plays Venus Nova, whose career-threatening situation puts Ray at the center of a city-wide conspiracy. Tom Waits voices Eyera, Ray's alien colleague. Waits was the first cast member attached and suggested Rockwell for the lead.
Produced at Skydance Animation with a reported budget above $150 million, the film opens in limited 70mm theatrical release on December 4, 2026, and streams on Netflix December 18. Songwriter Kimbra wrote three original songs performed by Johansson. Netflix is positioning "Too Much to Ask" for an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Brad Bird and composer Michael Giacchino discussed the project at Deadline Contenders London on October 10, 2026.
