Director Brad Bird is returning to animated feature films, but won’t be heading back to Pixar. Bird previously worked with the Disney-owned animation house leading two Best Animated Feature Oscars for his work on “Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” According to Deadline, Bird is teaming up with disgraced former Pixar head John Lasseter and Skydance Animation for an original feature film, “Ray Gunn” that the filmmaker will direct from a script he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins.
You might remember that Lasseter had been fired from Pixar by Disney after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced and later defended by Bird, potentially leading to the reunion. Bird has previously defended Lasseter.
Details about the project are scarce in the report, but the project has been kicking around for a while. The Wrap adds the project goes back to the 1990s when it was being developed at Warner Bros. Animation and is revealed to be a retro-futuristic detective story set in “the sprawling, magnificent city of Metropia,” based on a version of the script from 1996. “Ray Gunn” was expected “to combine two disparate worlds from the same period – the squeaky-clean look of ‘Buck Rogers’ and the contemporary, gritty, been-around characters from pulp novels.”
However, it’s unclear if they’ll be using that original script or have done an overhaul with rewrites over the last 20-plus years.
Bird has dipped his toes with live-action projects in the past with Tom Cruise‘s “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” and George Clooney-led Disney film “Tomorrowland.” His last big release was Pixar’s superhero sequel “Incredibles 2” which earned a massive $1.2 billion at the global box office.
Skydance’s upcoming animation films include “Luck” directed by Peggy Holmes coming to Apple TV+ on August 5 and Vicky Jenson’s “Spellbound” set for release on November 11.