Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite for crime thriller 'The Rip' from Joe Carnahan

After 2023's AIR, childhood friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are reuniting in front of the screen for director Joe Carnahan's The Rip, a crime thriller centred on an incident around a bunch of cops working in the Miami police department. The duo is also producing it under the banner of Artists Equity, their production studio that was launched in 2022. Netflix has announced a release date: January 16, 2026.

Carnahan is known for specialising in the crime genre, with credits such as Narc, The Grey, and The A-Team.

Damon and Affleck are joined in the cast by Steven Yeun, Kyle Chandler, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Sasha Calle.

As per the official logline, the story concerns a team of Miami cops whose loyalty and trust is tested after they discover millions in cash inside a derelict stash house. 

Carnahan tells Netflix that the inspiration for The Rip "came out of a deeply personal experience that my friend went through, both as a father and as head of tactical narcotics for the Miami Dade police department. It's inspired in part by his life and then, by my enduring love for those classic '70s cop thrillers that really valued the character and interpersonal relationships and became touchstones of that era — films like Serpico and Prince of The City and, more recently, Michael Mann's Heat.”

Carnahan explains that the film's title is "Miami cop parlance for ‘taking the bad guy's stuff,’ which is known as ‘ripping’ it. In the event of a seizure of cash or drugs or weapons, the confiscation itself is known as the ‘rip.’”

Praising the efforts of Damon and Affleck, Carnahan said working with the duo, who are also screenwriters in their own right, having won an Academy Award for their script of Good Will Hunting, was "the best of both worlds. I've never had as easy an experience on a movie as I had on The Rip. They took exceptionally good care of me and backed my decisions every step of the way.”

Damon and Affleck have so far collaborated on 14 films in various capacities. Aside from writing films like Good Will Hunting and The Last Duel, they have co-starred in films such as Dogma, The Last Duel and Air. Recently, Damon starred in Apple TV+ film The Instigators, also a co-production of the duo.

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