Ben Affleck starred in 2026's biggest streaming movie, and the film's success should be a sign of things to come for another Netflix crime thriller.
Claire Folger/Netflix
Published Aug 14, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT
Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.
He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.
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Ben Affleck is responsible for the biggest streaming movie of 2026, and the performance is a promising sign of things to come for an upcoming release. Affleck's movies typically do very well on streaming, whether they debut there, move to a service months after debuting on the big screen, or find a home years later through licensing deals. For example, he's seen Air and The Accountant 2 do big numbers on Prime Video, while 2026 brought The Rip to Netflix.
The latter is a crime thriller in which Affleck plays one of the lead roles. The Rip debuted on Netflix in January and immediately proved to be a huge hit. It vaulted to the top of Netflix's daily and weekly streaming charts, accumulating massive viewership figures over its first several weeks and months. That earned it a place among Netflix's most-watched 2026 movies, but its bigger than that with other metrics.
Nielsen released streaming data from the first half of 2026, and the outlet named The Rip as the biggest movie on streaming for viewers 12 and up. The film earned 4.432 billion minutes viewed through the end of June, putting it nearly one billion minutes ahead of the second-place film, Netflix's War Machine. The additional viewership data cements how popular Affleck's movie was on Netflix.
That's great news for him and Netflix considering they have another collaboration coming soon: Animals. Affleck wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the upcoming crime thriller, which is coming out on October 9, as revealed in the first Animals trailer. It will look to become another global streaming hit for Affleck.
Ben Affleck's Animals Can Be Another Netflix Hit Like The Rip
Not all streaming movies reach the same audiences, but Animals has a strong chance of connecting with the millions of people who turned The Rip into a massive success. This begins with Affleck's involvement in both genre films. Animals brings him back into an action crime thriller setting, only this time he's playing a mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped and must do whatever it takes to get him back.
Affleck had a lot of fun playing a morally grey character in The Rip and being an enforcer of the law. It should be equally enjoyable for viewers to watch him portray someone who is presumably more morally righteous as they are forced to do uncomfortable things to save someone he loves. The action, crime, and thriller elements of Animals will make it feel familiar for Affleck and viewers after The Rip.
That's not a bad thing by any means either. The Rip clearly worked tremendously well. Since Animals has been in the works for years, it isn't a reactionary move by both parties to try and capitalize on The Rip's success. It coming on the heels of the popular 2026 streaming title will just improve its chances of climbing Netflix's charts and giving Affleck another win with these types of movies.
Animals Is Missing A Key Aspect Of The Rip's Success
Image by Everett Collection
It will be fascinating to see if Animals can reach the same heights of The Rip's popularity, considering it is missing one important element. The upcoming Netflix original movie might have Affleck, but it does not retain his co-star, Matt Damon.
Damon and Affleck have made an entire career of working together, and that was a driving point of interest for The Rip. The original plans for Animals were to continue this, but Damon had to drop out of the movie to make The Odyssey. He does remain involved as a producer through their Artist Equity label. However, he won't be part of Animals' marketing or promo tour.
That leaves Animals to be more reliant on Affleck to drive interest. It does include other notable stars, such as Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington, Ray Fisher, and Affleck's The Rip co-star Steven Yeun, but this is ultimately his movie to sell and convince subscribers to watch. That should be easier for Ben Affleck to do after so many had a good time with The Rip.