Ben Affleck’s ‘The Rip’ Follow-Up Officially Takes Over Netflix
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Despite the purge at Netflix this past week — hundreds of employees, including major executives, were let go — the streamer has a bona fide hit on its hands. The movie in question, Animals, culminates a year-long streak of success for the streamer’s new strategy, although those responsible for implementing it are probably no longer around. Netflix pivoted from producing mega-budget tentpoles to focusing on mid-budget genre movies, rolling out more than half a dozen of them through 2026. Animals, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, could emerge as the biggest hit of the bunch, given its early performance.
Interestingly, Netflix’s 2026 run began with another crime-thriller starring Affleck: The Rip. That movie was the first in a string of original films that crossed the coveted 100-million-views mark for Netflix this year. The Rip, also starring Matt Damon, was followed by Thrash, Apex,Swapped, and War Machine — the latter film, starring Alan Ritchson, has accumulated more than 150 million views so far. More recently, Netflix released two new hits — the Spielbergian sci-fi title The Last House, which has passed the 90-million-views mark, and the 90s-style psychological thriller The Whisper Man, which amassed more than 80 million views.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
05
What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
06
You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
07
What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up
for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your
life would be like.
Stranger Things · Netflix · Since 2016
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he.
What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the
plan.
Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense,
enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous,
and they last for decades because of it.
He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously,
which is far rarer than it sounds.
You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily in Paris · Netflix · Since 2020
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she.
Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with
yourselves.
Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion,
which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy
levels.
You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when
something was happening somewhere else.
She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly,
publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very
good photo.
Wednesday · Netflix · Since 2022
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to
tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this
list.
Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for
an enormous amount.
You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally
incapable of offering you anything else.
Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a
performance out of caring.
Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Squid Game · Netflix · 2021–2025
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is
the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who
keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long
after anybody would blame you for leaving.
He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes
back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
‘Animals’ Is Defying Poor Reviews
According to the streamer’s latest viewership report, Animals saw a second-week increase, adding 30 million views and 55 million hours viewed. In its first week of release, Animals drew 24 million views and 42 million hours viewed, topping the charts on both occasions. Ironically, Animals has emerged as the worst-rated movie of Affleck’s accomplished career as a director, which includes four “Certified Fresh” gems on Rotten Tomatoes. Also featuring Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, and Luis Gerardo Méndez. Animals is sitting at a 32% score on the aggregator website, where the consensus reads, “Despite all the makings of an enticing story, including a compelling Kerry Washington, Animals’ weak writing prevents it from reaching its full potential.”
You can watch the movie on Netflix, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Warner Bros. Spoilers for “Clayface” follow. An odd thing happens near the end of “Clayface,” the new DC Universe horror movie about the Batman villain […]
