Ray Gunn Holds Its World Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival

Ray Gunn is Brad Bird’s animated sci-fi noir about private investigator Raymond Gunn, whose murder case unfolds in the alternate-history metropolis of Metropia. It opens in select U.S. theaters on Dec

Brad Bird's feature-length animated film Ray Gunn is a sci-fi noir set in Metropia, a sprawling metropolis in an alternate future imagined in 1939. In this city where humans and aliens live together, private detective Raymond Gunn takes on a murder case and becomes entangled in a larger affair involving multimedia star Venus Nova and aliens. The film had its world premiere at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival. It will open first in select U.S. theaters on December 4 before being released worldwide on Netflix on December 18.

Old Ways in the Age of Machines

Ray is the kind of person who still works cases on foot even in an era when a small machine called a “Fry Bot” handles much of a detective's work. His partner is a one-eyed alien named Eye-Ra. The setup of the pair continuing their investigation in a city that prioritizes efficiency through automation brings the methods of the classic private detective into conflict with a futuristic environment.

A City Reaching Skyward, and the Cases Beneath It

Metropia is depicted as a city where Art Deco-inspired skyscrapers coexist with flying cars and jetpacks. Beneath its polished exterior, however, corruption and murder are ever-present, and in a society where aliens hold the upper hand, Ray, a human detective, becomes even more of an outsider. Bird constructs the city's contrasts by combining the noir conventions of 1940s detective films with sci-fi adventure.

Three Characters at the Center of the Investigation

Sam Rockwell voices Raymond Gunn, while Scarlett Johansson plays Venus Nova, a figure caught at the center of fame and scandal. Tom Waits joins as Ray's colleague Eye-Ra. The running time listed in the BFI screening information is 119 minutes, making it an animated feature that follows the characters' relationships and the case.