Animals, the kidnapping thriller directed by and starring Ben Affleck, premiered on Netflix and in select theaters on Friday, October 9. It is the first film Affleck has directed since Air in 2023, and Collider notes it is his most action-oriented directing effort since Live By Night in 2016.
The simultaneous release puts the film in front of subscribers at home while also giving it a presence in cinemas, a dual approach that has become common for Netflix's larger projects. For Affleck, the premiere marks a return to a role he has held at several points in his career, and one that he combines here with a lead performance.
A Candidate, a Marriage and a Missing Child
Affleck plays Mark Kimball, a candidate running for mayor of Los Angeles, according to The Boston Globe. The campaign adds to the strain on his marriage to Abigail, played by Kerry Washington. Netflix's logline says the couple's son is kidnapped, forcing them into impossible choices.
The setup places a public figure in a private emergency. A political campaign runs on visibility, schedules and image, and a kidnapping demands the opposite: secrecy, speed and decisions made far from the cameras. By pairing the two, the story creates pressure from both directions, as the couple weigh what they owe their child against what a high-profile race expects of them. The logline's reference to impossible choices suggests that no option available to them comes without a cost.
The Ensemble Around Affleck and Washington
The cast also includes Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Ray Fisher, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez and Christopher Woodley. Affleck wrote the script with Billy Ray and Connor O. McIntyre.
The supporting lineup draws from film, television and streaming, and it gives the thriller a deep bench behind its two leads. Billy Ray is a screenwriter whose credits include Captain Phillips, a film built on tension and procedure, which makes his involvement a natural match for a story about a crisis unfolding under time pressure. Writing the script as a trio also means the film reflects more than one voice, with Affleck contributing as both a writer and the person responsible for translating the pages to the screen.
Affleck's Place Behind the Camera
Affleck's directing career began with Gone Baby Gone in 2007 and continued with The Town in 2010 and Argo in 2012, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. Live By Night followed in 2016, and Air, a drama about the creation of Nike's Air Jordan deal, arrived in 2023. Across those films he has worked mostly in grounded, character-driven stories, often with crime or high-stakes negotiation at their core.
Collider's description of Animals as his most action-oriented directing effort since Live By Night frames the new film as a shift toward a more kinetic mode after the boardroom setting of Air. The gap between the two films is three years, a modest stretch by the standards of many directors, but one that makes the premiere a notable event for viewers who follow his work behind the camera.
Artists Equity and a Recast Production
Animals was produced with Artists Equity, the company Affleck founded with Matt Damon, and both men are producers. The film was first set up with Damon in the lead role and Affleck's ex-wife Jennifer Garner as his wife. Affleck later told Variety that he and Garner decided against working together on it because of the baggage it would bring.
The change in casting is a reminder of how much a project can evolve between its first conception and its release. Moving from a version with Damon in the lead to one with Affleck himself in the central role altered the film's shape, and the choice of Washington for the role of Abigail gave the marriage at the center of the story a different dynamic. Artists Equity's involvement also ties the film to a company built around the working relationship between two longtime collaborators.
The Conversation Around the Film
Affleck has also been in the news this week for his comments on artificial intelligence, including that he used it on this film. You can read about that in our report on his remarks.
The timing means the film's release is arriving alongside a wider discussion about technology and filmmaking, and viewers may approach it with that context in mind. Netflix has positioned the film primarily as a thriller, and the premiere puts its story and performances in front of audiences for the first time.
How to Watch
Animals is available to stream on Netflix now. Select theaters are also showing the film, though availability depends on location, so viewers interested in a big-screen experience should check local listings. For those watching at home, the film is part of Netflix's library, so a subscription is all that is needed to see it, and the simultaneous release means there is no wait between the theatrical debut and the streaming premiere.