Retro Noir, Punk Ghostbusters, and Fairy Tale Twists: Netflix Shines at Annecy
Netflix dominated the conversation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival during its “Next on Netflix Animation” showcase. The streaming giant pulled back the curtain on a wildly diverse lineup of highly anticipated feature films and animated series, providing release dates, concept art, and footage that spans from classic 1990s franchise lore to decades-in-the-making sci-fi blockbusters.
The presentation underscored Netflix’s aggressive commitment to locking down premium animation for both broad family audiences and older, genre-enthusiastic demographics.
Brad Bird’s ‘Ray Gunn’ Lands a December Release
The crown jewel of the showcase was an extended, deeply personal look at Ray Gunn, the passion project filmmaker Brad Bird has spent nearly thirty years trying to bring to the screen. Produced by Skydance Animation, the film has officially locked in a global premiere date of December 18, 2026.
Set in Metropia—a sprawling, retro-futuristic megalopolis designed entirely through the stylistic lens of how the year 1939 imagined the far future—the narrative follows Raymond Gunn, the world’s last human private investigator, as he is ensnared in a gritty conspiracy involving alien factions, high-profile murder, and a massive multimedia pop star named Venus Nova.
Annecy attendees were treated to the film’s first seven minutes alongside work-in-progress sequences showcasing an incredibly dense, detail-heavy metropolis packed with sleek streamlined vehicles, towering neon infrastructure, and a brilliant clash of classic film noir tropes with sprawling pulp sci-fi. The stellar voice cast is anchored by Sam Rockwell as the titular detective, alongside Scarlett Johansson and legendary musician Tom Waits.
‘Ghostbusters: Night Shift’ Explores a Grimy, 1990s Canon Continuity
For franchise purists, the major reveal of the afternoon came from executive producers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan, who stepped forward to debut Ghostbusters: Night Shift. Slated for a 2027 global launch, the series is fully canonical, filling a massive narrative gap by setting the story in New York City in 1994—exactly five years after the original crew famously paraded the Statue of Liberty through the streets.
Showrunners Ben Hibon and Elliott Kalan emphasized that this is an older-skewing, tonally darker entry in the franchise designed to emphasize genuine horror elements, dread, and visual stylization over simple cartoon comedy.
The premise follows a group of broke, untrained, and entirely unprepared young New Yorkers—Belladonna, Mitzi, Zoe, Travis, and Mike—who find themselves forced to defend a vulnerable Big Apple after the original team has disbanded. Emphasizing a distinct early-1990s DIY punk aesthetic, the team doesn’t inherit pristine government gear. Instead, they operate out of the old firehouse utilizing modified, half-broken prototypes cobbled together with spare parts, including a ghost trap built from recycled skateboard wheels and a PKE meter engineered out of a first-generation PlayStation console.
Reimagining Classics: ‘Alley Cats,’ and Beyond
Netflix also utilized the massive festival stage to show off its broad stylistic reach across multiple incoming features and television blocks.
Alley Cats (August 7, 2026)
Shifting hard into distinct British adult comedy, Netflix showcased new material from Alley Cats, a brand-new animated sitcom written, directed, and voiced by Ricky Gervais. The series employs a sharp, witty narrative following a diverse group of feral alley cats as they wander the backstreets of the UK, navigating the raw structural struggles of urban survival, searching for baseline companionship, and philosophizing on the absurdities of daily life.
In Waves (December 11, 2026)
Based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel by AJ Dungo, this emotional, beautifully under-stated feature adaptation tracks the deeply moving romance between a shy skateboarder and a passionate young surfer who find their lives upended by a sudden, severe illness. Featuring the voices of Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu, the film acts as a gorgeous poetic tribute to the healing powers of the ocean.
Sakamoto Days (TBA 2027)
