For those who love the retrofuturistic aesthetic of The Incredibles, or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, but hoped that it could maybe be mixed with a little bit more cyberpunk, director Brad Bird’s newest animated movie is here to make all your dreams come true. Instead of the dieselpunk of Incredibles, upcoming new film Ray Gunn is decidedly cyberpunk, if cyberpunk somehow existed in a 1940s hardboiled aesthetic.
With images clearly inspired by all sorts of anachronistic sci-fi (including at least one shot that feels straight from Attack of the Clones), Ray Gunn looks to be a mishmash of various genre conventions all at once. As one villain says to the titular private detective, “You’re old school!” So, what would Blade Runner look like as a Pixar-esque movie, but not actually made by Pixar? The answer is Ray Gunn, and the new trailer seems to strongly suggest this one is not for kids.
Ray Gunn Trailer channels various genres at once
The trailer for Ray Gunn quickly reminds us that Brad Bird is the same guy who made The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, and Ratatouille, and if you squinted, it might seem like Ray Gunn belongs to that early-aughts crop of self-aware, but infinitely charming Pixar movies.
But Ray Gunn makes it clear that this isn’t exactly like those movies for one clear reason: It seems to be playing the private detective, noir element somewhat straight. This is a future world with flying cars, literal ray guns, and an aesthetic that sits somewhere between Dick Tracy and a Raymond Chandler novel. The premise: Raymond Gunn (Sam Rockwell) is a private detective hired to figure out if superstar Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson) is a murderer or not. Gunn’s sidekick is a one-eyed alien that feels both correct for the aesthetic of the movie and oddly generic; his name is Eyera, voiced by Tom Waits.
Will the plot of the movie end up mattering? It’s hard to say right now. But the trailer certainly looks gorgeous, and whatever fans imagined that an animated Brad Bird retrofuture crime movie might look like, the trailer for Ray Gunn delivers, and then some.
Ray Gunn is part of a weird cyberpunk sandwich
For whatever reason, from November 2026 to January 2027, fans of retrofuturistic cyberpunk will be getting a lot of new material to stream. The series Blade Runner 2099 hits Prime Video on November, 25, 2026. Then Ray Gunn in December 2026. Then, Apple TV’s take on the classic William Gibson cyberpunk novel, Neuromancer, comes on January 22, 2027.
Ray Gunn release date and Netflix streaming date
Ray Gunn is a Netflix release, and much like movies like Wake Up Dead Man, will hit theaters before being released on the streamer. The theatrical release date for Ray Gunn is December 4, 2026. The movie will then be streaming on Netflix on December 18.
