Animals (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Animals is a crime thriller about a mayoral candidate and his wife facing a desperate race to pay a ransom after their son is kidnapped. With campaign funds largely spent, the couple must confront financial pressure and the hidden compromises of their political lives.

Animals puts a political campaign under pressure from an intensely personal crisis. After the son of a Los Angeles mayoral candidate is kidnapped, the candidate and his wife have only a few hours to secure the demanded ransom.

Directed by Ben Affleck, the 2026 crime thriller centers on the collision between public ambition and private desperation. Its premise raises the stakes by placing the family’s available money in campaign spending, leaving the couple with difficult choices and little time.

Animals movie details

Story without spoilers

The film follows Mark Kimball, the son of an L.A. mayoral candidate, after his kidnapping triggers an urgent ransom demand. Mark and his wife, Abigail, must find the money within a few hours, but much of their wealth has already been committed to his political campaign.

As the deadline approaches, the couple is forced to take increasingly compromising steps and confront parts of their lives they had hoped to keep private. The story combines a kidnapping crisis with the pressures of electoral politics, making secrecy and reputation part of the central conflict.

What to expect

Animals is identified as a crime thriller with a political-thriller premise. Viewers can expect a time-sensitive ransom situation, a family under pressure and a story shaped by the consequences of political ambition. The setting and plot also point to a conflict between maintaining a public image and dealing with private actions that could become exposed.

The supplied information presents the film as a focused, high-stakes story rather than offering details about its ending, visual approach or tone beyond its crime and thriller classification.

Cast and creative team

Ben Affleck directs Animals and plays Mark Kimball. Kerry Washington plays Abigail. The cast also includes Steven Yeun, Gillian Anderson, Adriana Paz, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Ray Fisher, Matt Gerald, Mark Kassen and Christopher Woodley, who plays Denny Kimball.

The screenplay is credited to Billy Ray, Ben Affleck and Connor O. McIntyre. Affleck’s combined roles as director and cast member place him at the center of the film’s creative and on-screen lineup.

• Ben Affleck as Mark Kimball
• Kerry Washington as Abigail
• Steven Yeun
• Gillian Anderson
• Adriana Paz
• Luis Gerardo Méndez
• Ray Fisher
• Matt Gerald
• Mark Kassen
• Christopher Woodley as Denny Kimball

Release and production context

Animals is listed as a 2026 release with a release date of October 9, 2026. The film has a runtime of 1 hour and 46 minutes and is listed as Released in the supplied information. It is a United States production from Artists Equity, Makeready and Fifth Season, with English as its spoken language.

Production companies: Artists Equity, Makeready, Fifth Season

Animals official trailer

Watch the official trailer on YouTube

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With its kidnapping-and-ransom setup, Animals connects a family emergency to the financial and reputational pressures of a mayoral campaign. The film’s appeal will depend on how that tight deadline and political conflict are developed, but the available premise establishes a crime thriller built around exposure, compromise and urgent decisions.

Film data:
TMDB · IMDb