Ben Affleck’s New Action Thriller Becomes Huge Netflix Hit With Almost 80 Million Hours Viewed

Dating back to their major breakthrough with the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been one of Hollywood’s premier dynamic duos. Over the decades, they’ve paired up for a variety of successful films, including Dogma, The Last Duel, and Air. They obviously work very well together, which is why people were excited about their latest collaboration: the crime thriller The Rip. The film is one of the first major releases of 2026, debuting on Netflix over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Given the high-profile nature of the cast and an exciting premise, it shouldn’t come as any surprise that The Rip was an immediate hit.

For the week of January 12-18, The Rip was the No. 1 movie on Netflix. It accumulated 41.6 million views and was watched for 78.3 million hours, beating out the likes of People We Meet on Vacation and One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 for the top spot. What’s impressive about this performance is that The Rip didn’t start streaming until Friday, January 16th, meaning it racked up all these views over a three-day period.

The Rip Is Another Winner for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

January typically isn’t a month associated with quality new releases, but The Rip is an exception to that trend. In addition to the general appeal of another Damon and Affleck pairing, it’s easy to see why the film has caught on with Netflix subscribers. It’s a slice of old-school entertainment, drawing viewers in with an intense tale about a unit of Miami cops who come across a large sum of cartel money when investigating a stash house. From the opening moments, director Joe Carnahan keeps the tension high, taking the audience on a twisty ride that’s full of hard-hitting action and drama. The Rip feels like a film from another era, filling a void in the current film landscape.

Regardless of the genre, it’s always fun to watch real-life friends Affleck and Damon play off each other, leaning into their natural chemistry to create fascinating dynamics between their characters. In The Rip, both do an excellent job of bringing veteran cops to life, conveying the gravity and severity of the situation through their interactions. They handle the compelling character moments with ease and also get a chance to show off their action chops. The supporting cast around Damon and Affleck is also a highlight, notably Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent who gets involved and Steven Yeun as a member of the tactical team investigating the stash house. The ensemble playing the main group of detectives all have a natural rapport, making it easy to believe they’re a unit that’s been through a lot together.

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With Affleck and Damon headlining, it’s a bit surprising The Rip didn’t receive a theatrical release. It would have been interesting to see how it would have fared at the box office. On one hand, it’s a well-received genre film (82% Rotten Tomatoes score) with big stars attached. If it played in theaters during an uncompetitive January window, it might have gained some traction with moviegoers a la Den of Thieves. That said, moviegoing habits have drastically changed over the years, and general audiences are much more selective about what they see on the big screen. Shorter windows and streaming services make it much easier to wait for new releases at home. The Rip is very good, but it’s easy to see a scenario where it would have struggled at the box office before finding an audience on streaming. In that respect, Netflix was smart to put it directly on streaming. Now it just goes down as a Netflix success without having the stigma of box office disappointment attached.

The Rip continues what’s been a strong month for Damon on Netflix. A couple of weeks ago, his acclaimed 2019 drama Ford v Ferrari was one of the streamer’s most-watched movies. There are a few other Damon vehicles currently streaming on Netflix, so it’ll be interesting to see if the success of The Rip has any impact on the viewership of those titles. If hype for this summer’s The Odyssey has fans seeking out Damon movies wherever they can find, Netflix has plenty of great options.

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