Brad Bird Wants To Push Animation 'Less Towards The Kiddies Table' With 'Ray Gunn'

Brad Bird’s animated feature Ray Gunn is a sci-fi noir set in a future imagined from a 1939 perspective, following private detective Raymond Gunn and celebrity Venus Nova. It is set to open in select

A Future City Through the Eyes of 1939

*Ray Gunn* is a feature-length animated film scheduled to premiere in select theaters on December 4, 2026, before arriving on Netflix on December 18. Long envisioned by Brad Bird, the film puts front and center an attempt to move beyond the convention of narrowing animation into a format intended only for children.

Private Detective Raymond Gunn and Venus Nova

The story is set in ‘Metropia,’ a sprawling future city as people in 1939 might have imagined it. Private detective Raymond Gunn becomes drawn into a case involving Venus Nova, a celebrity with problems of her own. Combining the framework of classic detective fiction with retro science fiction, the film places the mystery of film noir within an urban landscape of cosmic scale.

Applying the Visual Language of Live-Action Noir to CG

Instead of conventional CG-animation lighting, the production team looked to the cinematography of live-action film. They designed composition and lighting together from the outset, using the feel of wide 28mm lenses and 70mm cinematography while treating shadows and low angles as narrative tools. Chase sequences crossing the city and costumes that rework 1940s silhouettes with futuristic technology give concrete form to the visual premise of ‘the future imagined by the past.’

Animation for a Broader Audience

Bird explained that the film is not aimed at five-year-old children, and that animation can also address broader themes and audiences. Rather than excluding younger viewers, the approach is to avoid limiting a story’s difficulty and audience solely because of its format. Combining the tension of a detective story with exaggerated animated expression lies at the heart of that goal.

Source: Cartoon Brew