Animals: Son’s Kidnapping Shakes the Secrets of a Mayoral Candidate Couple

Animals is a thriller co-written and directed by Ben Affleck, following a Los Angeles mayoral candidate and his wife after their son is kidnapped. It premieres on Netflix and in select theaters on Oct

The film Animals, starring Ben Affleck and Kerry Washington as a married couple, will be released on Netflix and in select theaters on October 9, 2026. Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball and his wife, Abigail, must come up with a ransom after their son is kidnapped, confronting choices and secrets that could destroy their lives in the process.

How a Kidnapping Turns into a Political Crisis

The film’s tension lies less in the rescue operation itself than in how the family of a public-office candidate handles the crisis. The couple must respond to the threat immediately, but because of the candidate’s public position, a private crisis quickly expands into a political liability. The problem of raising the ransom and the question of whether they can trust each other are presented at the same time, making the pressure of a family drama and political thriller converge within a single incident.

Affleck’s Direction and Ensemble

Affleck co-wrote and directed the film. Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Ray Fisher, Mark Kassen, and Christopher Woodley also star, and the story was filmed in and around Los Angeles. The collision between the city’s political image and the private problems the characters are trying to hide forms the film’s central premise.

The Cost of Choices Made in 108 Minutes

The runtime is 108 minutes. Rather than focusing solely on tracing the cause of the kidnapping and identifying the perpetrator, the film centers on how each decision made while preparing the ransom changes the family’s relationships and the candidate’s future. It can therefore be seen as a thriller in which the pace of solving the case and the characters’ moral choices create tension together.