Ben Affleck is back in the director's chair for the first time in nearly a decade with "Animals," a kidnapping thriller that began streaming on Netflix on January 16. The film marks Affleck's first directing credit since 2016's "Live by Night," and he also stars in the lead role.
The movie casts Affleck as a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is abducted on the eve of the election. Gillian Anderson plays his wife, and the supporting cast includes Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, and Ray Fisher. Affleck directed from a script by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray.
"Animals" arrives nine years after "Live by Night," a Prohibition-era drama that carried a reported $65 million budget and flopped at the box office, grossing roughly $22 million worldwide. That misfire followed Affleck's acclaimed run of directing work: "Gone Baby Gone" in 2007, "The Town" in 2010, and the Oscar-winning "Argo" in 2012. He stepped away from directing for most of the past decade to focus on acting, including his stint as Batman in Warner Bros.' DC films.
Affleck has described the new project as a deliberate swing at darker material. "I wanted to make something that felt dangerous," he said ahead of the release, according to Netflix's production notes. "This is not a movie that lets you off the hook."
The film reunites Affleck with Netflix, which backed his 2023 release "Air," the Michael Jordan sneaker origin story that Affleck directed and starred in alongside Matt Damon. "Air" drew strong reviews and became one of the streamer's most-watched original films of that year, which helped clear the path for a second collaboration.
Early critical response to "Animals" has been mixed but warm toward Affleck's direction. Variety called it "nasty, compulsive" and credited Affleck with sustaining tension through a story that unfolds largely in real time. The review praised the film's refusal to soften its central character, a politician whose personal crisis collides with his public ambitions.
The release lands at a busy moment for Affleck on screen. He recently appeared in "The Accountant 2" for Amazon MGM Studios, reprising the role of Christian Wolff, and has several acting projects in various stages of development. Whether "Animals" leads to a steadier return to directing remains an open question, but the film puts him back behind the camera for the first time since the Obama administration.
"Animals" runs 127 minutes and is rated R for violence, language, and some drug content. It is streaming now on Netflix.
