Picture Credit: Netflix
We’re just weeks away from Metropia opening its doors, and Netflix is clearly done being coy. A brand-new story trailer for Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn has just landed, and it’s easily the most comprehensive look we’ve had at the plot so far, joined by a striking new poster and a fresh batch of first-look images.
It arrives at the perfect time, too. Following its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October, Ray Gunn is now Certified Fresh with a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of publishing, making it one of the best-reviewed animated films of the year.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new trailer, poster and images.
When is Ray Gunn coming to Netflix?
Ray Gunn will be released in two stages:
The film runs 1 hour and 59 minutes and is rated PG for violence, action, language, some suggestive material and thematic elements. It’s one of the headline releases in our first look at what’s coming to Netflix in December 2026.
Watch the new Ray Gunn story trailer
Where September’s first trailer was all mood, set to that slick cut of Sneaker Pimps’ “6 Underground,” this new story trailer finally lays out the case at the heart of the movie.
We meet Ray Gunn (Sam Rockwell), an ex-cop turned private eye who is one of the last human detectives for hire in a city that has largely handed the gumshoe business over to snooping “pry bots.” Business is so slow that Ray has given up his apartment and is sleeping in his office. Then the job of a lifetime walks in: Arnold Dom (Bobby Cannavale), the fourth husband of megastar Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson), wants Ray to find out if she’s having an affair.
What comes through most clearly is just how grown-up this film is aiming to be. As Bird told us when we spoke to him at Annecy, he’s long wanted to win over the people who write animation off as kids’ stuff, and this trailer leans hard into the hard-boiled noir side of the pitch he’s been using for decades: “The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers.”
The new Ray Gunn poster
Picture Credit: Netflix
The new primary poster ditches the moody noir framing of the teaser art for something far more kinetic. Ray is shown rocketing straight toward the camera on a battered jetpack, jaw set, with Metropia’s mile-high towers blurring beneath him.
It also proudly bills Bird as “the director of The Incredibles and Ratatouille” and confirms the December 4 theatrical and December 18 Netflix dates.
New Ray Gunn first-look images
Netflix has also released a fresh set of stills, and several of them introduce us to faces from Metropia we haven’t seen much of yet.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Ray sizes up a new blaster. Eagle-eyed Pixar fans will spot the A113 engraved on the side, Bird’s long-running nod to his old CalArts classroom. According to the production notes, the A113 particle blaster has its own unique green energy that no other weapon in the film shares.
Picture Credit: Netflix
A beaming fedora-wearing contact greets Ray on a studio lot outside Stage 15.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Ray finds himself on the wrong end of a very pointed finger by Michelle Rodriguez’s Roz Dexler, the Metropia police captain and Ray’s ex from his days on the force, it looks like their reunion isn’t going smoothly.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Matt Berry is voicing mob boss Slugsy which we get a new first look at here alongside one of his henchmen.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Ray and Venus Nova share a moment. Sam Rockwell compares the pair’s relationship to Disney’s Robin Hood or Lady and the Tramp, describing it as starting off “kind of like it might not be so sweet, and then it becomes sweet.”
What is Ray Gunn about?
Here’s Netflix’s official synopsis:
In the dazzling retro-futurist city of Metropia, humans and aliens live side by side, flying cars fill the skies, and everything has a price. Beneath the soaring skyline, corruption runs deep — and few people know this better than Ray Gunn (Sam Rockwell), an old-school private detective whose profession — and perhaps integrity — is becoming a thing of the past. Ray may be down on his luck, but he soon finds himself pulled into the biggest case of his life.
Alongside his loyal partner, Eye-Ra (Tom Waits), a cyclopsian alien, Ray rockets into the orbit of Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson), Metropia’s biggest and most controversial megastar. Ray’s investigation of Venus’s treacherous circle of hangers-on and handlers sends him on an action-packed adventure through the city’s glamorous heights and slimy underbelly.
As you may know, the movie had its big premiere last month at the London Film Festival, and has since screened in multiple cities elsewhere around the world. When the review embargo lifted after the LFF premiere, Ray Gunn debuted at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. It has since climbed to 94% and earned the Certified Fresh badge.
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave it five stars, while IGN and Polygon were also big fans. It hasn’t been universal praise, with The Hollywood Reporter and Screen International among the dissenting voices, and a few critics noting it runs a touch long. Our own review gave it 3.5/5.
More Ray Gunn coverage
Will you be catching Ray Gunn in 70mm on December 4, or waiting for it to hit Netflix on December 18? Let us know in the comments below and keep an eye on What’s on Netflix as we’ve got more coverage lined up tomorrow and in the run up to release!