Animals Trailer: Affleck and Washington Face a Kidnapping Crisis
The first full trailer for Animals shows Ben Affleck and Kerry Washington as a couple whose son's kidnapping threatens a mayoral campaign.
Netflix has released the full-length trailer for Animals, a political crime thriller directed and co-written by Ben Affleck, who also leads the cast. The film centres on Mark Kimball, a charismatic candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, and his wife Abigail, played by Kerry Washington, whose family life is upended when their young son Denny is abducted.
The trailer opens on Mark's polished public image — a campaign trail lined with supporters and a home life that appears settled — before the kidnapping shatters that picture. The abductors demand a substantial ransom within hours, leaving the couple scrambling.
A central complication emerges: much of the family's wealth has already been committed to Mark's mayoral bid, leaving them unable to draw on it to meet the demand. The trailer follows Mark and Abigail as they turn to increasingly desperate measures to raise the money and bring Denny home.
Gillian Anderson appears as Dayle, a calculating fixer who tells the couple that power creates leverage and dictates outcomes. Her arrival pushes the pair to confront buried secrets, including compromising material that could damage both Mark's campaign and the marriage.
Steven Yeun plays Mark's campaign manager, with Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Mendez and Ray Fisher also in the ensemble.
Animals is set to premiere globally on Netflix and in select limited theatres on October 9, 2026.