Pixar's 'Gatto' Trailer: Mark Ruffalo Is a Venice Cat Down to His Last Life

Pixar has released the first trailer for "Gatto," an original animated feature about a black cat named Nero who owes a debt to a mob boss in Venice. The film opens in theaters on March 5, 2027.

Mark Ruffalo voices Nero. Laurence Fishburne voices Rocco, the local feline mob boss holding the debt. That casting alone tells you the register: Pixar has made a noir, except everyone has whiskers.

According to the official synopsis, Nero has been questioning whether he's lived the right lives in the city of canals. He is forced to forge an unexpected friendship that may finally lead him to his purpose. It's a cat-with-nine-lives premise played as an existential audit. Naturally, it's set in Venice, the one city where a cat can plausibly owe favors to everyone.

Who's in the voice cast?

The ensemble runs deep and skews heavily comic:

• Bianca Babaşa as Maja
• Sherry Cola as Regina
• John Turturro as Capitano Briganti
• Rumen Sali Shopov as Papu Janko
• Rhys Darby as Focaccia
• Isabella Rossellini as Contessa
• Natasia Demetriou as Charon
• Jamie Demetriou as Plague Doctor
• Jason Schwartzman as Vivaldi
• Saverio Raimondo as Ugo
• Jason Mantzoukas as Rico
• Matt Jones as Enzo
• Austin Madison as Fishmonger
• Beatrice Manfredi as Martinelli
• Jesse Andrews as Bartolomeo
• Tracey Ullman as Luisa
• Marco Calvani as Maestro Foscari

A character named Plague Doctor, voiced by a Demetriou, in a Venice-set cat noir. Pixar knows exactly what it's doing.

Who made the music?

The original score comes from Dario Marianelli, the Academy Award winner for "Atonement." The score features violin compositions co-written and performed by Slovak violinist Barbora Botošová. A Venetian story scored with strings is, if nothing else, on brand; the city practically demands a violin the moment a gondola enters frame.

Who's behind the camera?

Enrico Casarosa directs. Andrea Warren produces. The pair previously made "Luca," the 2021 Venice-adjacent Pixar feature that earned an Oscar nomination, and "Gatto" reunites them on Italian ground. Casarosa, an Italian himself, is effectively making a second homecoming picture — this time with fur.

What can we expect in 2027?

"Gatto" arrives as an original property in a market increasingly dominated by sequels, which makes the March 5, 2027 release date a small statement of intent. A mob-debt cat, an Oscar-winning composer, and the "Luca" team: Pixar is betting that audiences will still show up for something they haven't seen before.