First Teaser Trailer for Ben Affleck’s ‘Animals’ Kidnapping Dark Thriller​

Netflix has revealed the first teaser trailer for the new film Animals directed by and starring Ben Affleck, his latest since making Air in 2024. This is set for a release right away in early October – it’ll be streaming on Netflix and available in limited theaters as well (whoever will play it). When their son is kidnapped, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife find themselves drawn into a web of deception. As they scramble to raise the ransom payment, they’re forced to make choices that could tear their world apart. “How far would you go to protect your family? And who can you trust?” In Animals, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck) faces those very questions. When he receives an ominous phone call, Mark & his wife Abigail scramble to respond to a threat that could upend their carefully constructed life. The impressive full cast features Ben Affleck & Kerry Washington, with Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Ray Fisher, Christopher Woodley, Matt Gerald, Jacob Estrada, Luis Gerardo Méndez, and Steven Yeun. So this is obviously a remake or copy of Kurosawa’s High and Low, but with a few changes so they can call it their own script. All the pieces are there – it’s the same setup with the ransom but switched to Los Angeles.

Here’s the first teaser trailer (+ poster) for Ben Affleck’s film Animals, direct from Netflix’s YouTube:

“Power can’t protect you.” When the son of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Milo Bradford is kidnapped, he and his wife have a few hours to come up with the ransom payment. With most of their money spent on his political campaign, they have to get their hands dirty and expose a side of their lives they never intended to see the light of day. Animals is directed by American actor / writer / producer / filmmaker Ben Affleck, director of the movies Gone Baby Gone, The Town, Argo, Live by Night, and Air most recently, plus a few other shorts. The screenplay is written by Connor O. McIntyre and Billy Ray and Ben Affleck. Produced by Brad Weston, Collin Creighton, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Dani Bernfeld, Luciana Damon. Made by Artists Equity, Makeready, Fifth Season. With cinematography by Robert Elswit. Netflix debuts Affleck’s Animals film in select US theaters + streaming on Netflix starting October 9th, 2026 this fall. How does that look?

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