'Ray Gunn' First Trailer Lands

We need to discuss the elephant in the room. We on this site have never previously significantly covered any film or series produced by Skydance Animation. This has been a deliberate decision, as they lost our respect when they decided to hire John Lasseter after his firing from Pixar/Disney for inappropriate behaviour towards female staff and creatives. It shows a real lack of concern for Skydance's female employees and probably reveals a lot about Skydance's upper management. So it was dispiriting when animation icon Brad Bird decided to take his long-gestating dream project Ray Gunn to Skydance with his old friend Lasseter rather than Pixar or elsewhere. It's possible he couldn't get it made anywhere else, but it's disappointing. Most of Skydance's releases have been frankly easy enough to ignore. But Ray Gunn is automatically one of the most notable animated films of the year, so we hope you understand if we make an exception.

With all that said, the first trailer for the film has now been released, and it's looking pretty solid. Bird has been trying to make this film since before he directed The Iron Giant, when it was initially imagined as a 2D animation. It has since transformed into a CGI-animated film. The film follows the titular character, who is the last human private eye in a city populated by humans and aliens living side by side.

The film is set in Metropia, a futuristic city "as seen from 1939". As the setup and private detective protagonist suggest, Ray Gunn is a sci-fi film crossed with a Film Noir. The plot sees Gunn get caught up in a case involving murder, aliens and a femme fatale named Venus Nova.

Bird directs based on a screenplay written by him with Matthew Robins. The film is produced by Bird, John Lasseter (boo!), Lisa Beroud, David Ellison (also boo!) and Dana Goldberg. The score is written by Michael Giacchino,

Sam Rockwell voices Ray Gunn, while Scarlett Johansson is Venus Nova. The cast also features Alan Tudyk, Matt Berry, Bobby Carnivale, Michael Chernus, Kether Donohue, Michelle Rodriguez, Aasif Mandvi, Matt Jones, Kathryn Hunter, John Ratzenberger, Justin Peck, and Patton Oswalt. 

This will be the penultimate film to be released as part of Skydance Animation's distribution deal with Netflix. It will debut on the platform on December 18, but will receive a limited theatrical release starting December 4 (countries to be confirmed). The film is set to have its World Premiere as part of the BFI London Film Festival between October 7-18.

In the trailer, we are introduced to the futuristic (but decidedly retro) setting, the moody atmosphere and to Gunn himself. The animation style isn't particularly novel or original, but there are some nice designs. There are friendly aliens, and not-so-friendly aliens, flying cars, jetpacks, car chases and romance. Bird seems to be going all-out to produce a spectacular film.

Ray Gunn has taken an awfully long time to make it to our screens. Will the wait be worth it? We'll have to wait and see