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Ben Affleck’s Forgotten ‘Inception’ Meets ‘Taken’ Thriller Is the #1 Hit on Hulu

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With Ben Affleck set to release his new directorial effort, Animals, on Netflix in a few weeks, one of his most underseen recent movies is witnessing a resurgence on a rival platform. Earlier this year, Affleck starred alongside his longtime creative partner and close friend Matt Damon in The Rip, which emerged as a major hit for Netflix. The Rip also received a positive review from none other than Quentin Tarantino, who declared it the best movie he’d seen this year. Animals is a crime-thriller in which Affleck plays a mayoral candidate who finds himself in a moral quandary when his child is kidnapped. Interestingly, a similar premise was wrapped in an entirely different package in Affleck’s 2023 movie that’s currently seeing a surge in interest.

The movie in question, a mind-bending sci-fi thriller, starred Affleck as a homicide detective who gets embroiled in a case that has links to his missing daughter. The movie was directed by Robert Rodriguez, who also served as the editor and cinematographer, with several of his children performing other behind-the-scenes creative duties. While Affleck played the lead role, the film’s supporting cast was rounded out by Alice Braga, William Fichtner, and Jackie Earle Haley.











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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
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Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

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🚀Star Wars

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01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.





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02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.





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03

What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.





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04

How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.





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05

Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.





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06

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.





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07

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.





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08

What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.





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Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

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The Resistance, Zion

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.

  • You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
  • You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
  • You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
  • The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.

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The Wasteland

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.

  • You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
  • You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
  • You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
  • In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.

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Los Angeles, 2049

Blade Runner

You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

  • You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
  • In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
  • You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
  • In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.

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Arrakis

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

  • Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
  • You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
  • Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
  • In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.

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A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

  • You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
  • You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
  • You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
  • In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
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Ben Affleck’s Forgotten Thriller Is Outperforming Major Hits on Hulu

We’re talking, of course, about Hypnotic. The film was distributed domestically by Ketchup Entertainment and Relativity Media, grossing around $16 million against a reported budget of $65 million. It now holds a 32% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Although Hypnotic isn’t without glimmers of inspiration, the ultimate effect of this often clunky crime caper will be to leave you feeling rather sleepy.” According to FlixPatrol, Hypnotic is currently the number-one movie domestically on Hulu, ahead of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Coraline, and another Affleck home-video hit, The Accountant 2.

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Affleck’s Animals will be released on Netflix on October 9, while Rodriguez is working on a new slate of productions through a recently launched company called Brass Knuckle Films. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.


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Release Date
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May 11, 2023

Runtime

93 minutes

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Writers

Max Borenstein, Robert Rodriguez

Producers
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Guy Danella, Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Lisa Ellzey, Mark Gill, Robert Rodriguez

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