Ben Affleck Directing Matt Damon in Kidnap Thriller ‘Animals’

The old friends are reuniting after the success of last year’s Michael Jordan shoe drama ‘Air’ for the mysterious new movie that they will also produce.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

(L to R) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Preview:

Ben Affleck is on board to direct kidnapping thriller ‘Animals’.
Matt Damon is aboard to star.
The script is by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray.

Ever since they broke out big writing (to Oscar-winning effect) and starring in ‘Good Will Hunting’, old friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have looked for chances to work together again.

They’ve managed it through different avenues –– appearing in several Kevin Smith movies (especially ‘Dogma’, where they play wayward angels) and Ridley Scott’s ‘The Last Duel’, plus the movies they’ve worked on as producers.

The duo scored a big success last year for Amazon with ‘Air’ –– Affleck directed, and Damon starred in the story of Nike executives trying to seal a deal with basketball star (back before he truly was one) Michael Jordan to make what became the Air Jordan.

That movie ended up earning around $90 million at the box office, and now they’ve found another project to repeat the same process, with Affleck directing and Damon starring in ‘Animals’.

What’s the story of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s new movie?

So far, the plot details are being kept quiet on this one, though Deadline has learned that the kidnapping thriller has a script that began life with Connor McIntyre and has since seen revisions from ‘Captain Phillips’ and ‘Richard Jewel’ writer Billy Ray.

Damon and Affleck will produce the movie –– as they did ‘Air’ –– through their Artists Equity company.

Yet unlike ‘Air’, this movie won’t arrive via Amazon. Instead, Netflix has jumped aboard to finance and distribute the film, though it remains to be seen whether it’ll go the theatrical route or will land in Netflix’s streaming service.

What’s next for Ben Affleck and Matt Damon?

Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

(L to R) Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Luciana Barroso at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards, airing live from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Todd Williamson/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Affleck is planning to make ‘Animals’ before he heads to his next planned acting gig –– he’s reportedly going to reprise the role of Christian Wolff for a sequel to Gavin O’Connor’s 2016 action thriller ‘The Accountant’.

He’ll appear in wife Jennifer Lopez’s new film, ‘This is Me… Now’, which ties in with the album of the same name. And there are various projects that he’s producing.

Damon will next be seen in Ethan Coen’s crime caper ‘Drive-Away Dolls’ (due in theaters on February 23rd) and heard in John Krasinski’s family movie ‘IF’ (out May 17th).

He’s also got ‘The Instigators’ on the way (which he’s starring in, and producing alongside Affleck), but which doesn’t yet have an announced release date.

(L to R) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon win Best Original Screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting' during the 70th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images.