Ben Affleck's Record-Setting New R-Rated Thriller Is An Instant Netflix Sensation

Published Oct 11, 2026, 11:58 AM EDT

Hannah Gearan (she/her) is has been writing for ScreenRant for over three years. Her deep cinema love traces back to age 11, when she equipped herself with a spiral-bound notebook, rated all the films she watched, and declared herself a critic. About a decade later, she received a BA from Wesleyan University, where she studied Film, Environmental Studies, and Writing. Hannah’s short film, Toxic Faucets, has screened at numerous film festivals, including the Independent Film Festival of Boston (IFFBoston). As a Movie News writer now, she draws upon her vast experience studying, making, and analyzing film as she approaches dynamic breaking stories. 

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Ben Affleck has made a huge range of films over the course of his career. He has been a key player both behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera for award-winning movies like Argo and Good Will Hunting. At the same time, the actor can carry blockbuster bait, fronting action movies such as The Accountant movies. Much of Affleck's more recent work has fallen into this latter category, with his work on movies like The Rip.

Affleck's most recent movie is an action-thriller called Animals. Affleck directs and stars in this movie, playing Mark Kimball, a mayoral candidate whose world is turned upside down when his son is held for ransom. Mark and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) must go to extremes to get their son back in this political thriller. In addition to Affleck and Washington, the Animals cast includes Gillain Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, Christopher Woodley, Taylor Cooper, and Luis Gerardo Méndez.

Affleck's Animals Is Already Conquering Netflix

Now, Animals has become a massive hit on Netflix. According to the streaming charts, the movie has soared to the top of the platform's most-watched movies worldwide. This feat includes a domestic success in the United States, where it is the no. 1 movie, and regional success across multiple continents. Other regions that currently have Animals at no. 1 include Argentina, Australia, the United Kingdom, Morocco, France, Vietnam, Spain, and South Africa, among many others.

This streaming win is notable for Animals in that it comes so shortly after the movie initially debuted on the platform. Animals hit Netflix on October 9, giving it just two days to take the world by storm in the way that it did. In the process, the movie has beaten much more established films to make it to the top, including Anyone But You and four of the five Ice Age movies.

The R-Rated Thriller Set Multiple Rotten Tomatoes Records

While the streaming wins make it look like Animals is a highly successful title, the movie has set some Rotten Tomatoes records for Affleck, and not in a good way. With a critics Tomatometer of just 36%, the movie is his second lowest-rated film as a director. Animals fared only slightly better with audiences, getting a 40% Popcornmeter, which officially makes it his lowest-rated movie as a director in terms of audience score (Live by Night previously had a 42%). Still, it seems there is something audiences are still finding appealing about Animals, driving the viewership up.