Affleck's Netflix thriller Animals tops global chart for two weeks, then is displaced

Centre · 2Animals, a Netflix crime thriller directed by and starring Ben Affleck, held the No. 1 spot on Netflix's global movie chart for close to two weeks after its release earlier in October 2026. 1 2 Centre · 1Collider reported that the film gathered 30.8 million views in its first week and was expected to gain more in its second. 1 Centre · 2Reviews were poor: Collider cited a 31% critics' score and a 37% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Screen Rant also noted the negative reviews. 1 2

Centre · 1Affleck plays Mark Kimball, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped for ransom, and co-wrote the script with Billy Ray and Connor O. McIntyre. The cast includes Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun and Gillian Anderson. 1 Centre · 1Screen Rant described Animals as the first film Affleck has directed for Netflix and part of the first-look deal that Affleck and Matt Damon hold with the platform through their Artist Equity banner. 2 Centre · 1Collider quoted the Rotten Tomatoes audience consensus, which said weak writing keeps the film from its potential, and noted critics from Collider, Screen Rant and MovieWeb found it shallow, a "boring mess" or "derivative". 1

Centre · 1By Screen Rant's later report, Netflix's Mexican survival drama Surviving Hurricane Otis had taken the worldwide No. 1 spot, topping the chart in over 20 countries including the US, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Austria and Turkey, and Animals had fallen to second. 2 Centre · 1Surviving Hurricane Otis, directed by Jorge Michel Garu and running 96 minutes, follows two estranged brothers on a yacht in Acapulco who are hit by a Category 5 hurricane. It was inspired by sailors Marlon Valdez and Jonathan Chino, who survived the 2023 storm. 2