Brad Bird will direct the movie Ray Gunn for Skydance Animation. He will be teaming up with John Lasseter, head of the animation for Skydance, with whom he formerly worked on several Pixar projects. This information is reported by Deadline.
Ray Gunn will be Bird’s first animated film since Incredibles 2. The film comes from a script that Bird and Matthew Robbins wrote when Bird worked over at Warner Bros. Animation in the 1990s. According to Yahoo! Entertainment, Ray Gunn is “is a retro-futuristic detective story set in ‘the sprawling, magnificent city of Metropia.'”
Bird previously worked with Skydance for his live-action directorial debut Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which brought the Mission: Impossible franchise back to life. Bird also directed Tomorrowland for Disney, which is based in the Disneyland area. However, Bird is most likely best known for his animated features, which include 1997’s The Iron Giant and Pixar’s The Incredibles and Ratatouille.
“From his work on The Iron Giant to The Incredibles films and the work we did together on Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Brad is one of the greatest filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Skydance CEO David Ellison. “As a lifelong fan of animation, it is incredibly rewarding to be re-teaming with him to create this bold new world and we’re excited to get started.”
Meanwhile, Skydance Animation will soon debut their first animated feature, Luck, which premieres on Apple TV+ on August 5, 2022. Directed by Peggy Holmes, Luck is the story of an unlucky girl who stumbles upon the hidden world of good and bad luck. Teaming up with magical creatures, she uncovers a secret power that could be more powerful than luck itself. The voice cast for Luck includes Whoopi Goldberg, Simon Pegg, Eva Noblezada, Jane Fonda, and Lil Rel Howery.
Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn for Skydance Animation currently has no estimated release date, but more will be announced as the project develops.