Credit: Netflix

Ben Affleck has walked straight to the top of the Top 10 movie chart on Netflix this week with Animals, and he totally deserves this because the route there was anything but easy. Did you know Matt Damon was supposed to star in the film before scheduling got in the way, while Jennifer Garner was attached as well? But then, Affleck ended up stepping in front of his own camera while Kerry Washington joined him.

And Affleck directing himself might not be a novelty anymore, but it is still something. Animals is his sixth feature behind the camera, and the fact that it has opened this strongly gives the whole thing another little victory lap.

Tyler Perry’s Doing Life is right behind it, because apparently the man has decided rest is for other people. Naomi Baker leads opposite Jay Reeves, whom Netflix viewers may remember from The Six Triple Eight, while Perry handles the writing and directing. At this point, it’s like hearing a new Perry project announced every day, and the strange yet happy part is we’re excited for them all.

And now comes the part nobody saw coming because the middle of the chart has been overrun by Ice Age. Yes, the original film is sitting on number three, with Collision Course, Dawn of the Dinosaurs and The Meltdown movies from the same series backing it up. Sadly, Continental Drift is in the lower half, but hey, it still made it to the Top 10. Five films from the same franchise in a single Top 10 is beyond amazing.

The timing is no accident either. Disney’s recent licensing deal brought all five Ice Age films back to Netflix worldwide from October 4th for a three-month run, and with Ice Age: Boiling Point due in cinemas next year, the whole franchise has suddenly been back on everybody’s radar. Well played, Netflix.

A little trivia for the pub quiz file: Chris Wedge, who directed the first Ice Age, also voiced Scrat, the acorn-obsessed menace who ended up becoming the franchise mascot.

The rest of the chart is the releases that were holding the first position last week, and that’s UNABOMBER for you. While The Widower: ’Til Death Do Us Part keeps the true-crime crowd occupied. The last one on the list is The Forever Purge, and that’s all for this week.

The 10 most popular movies on Netflix this week

• Animals
• Doing Life
• Ice Age
• Ice Age: Collision Course
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
• Ice Age: The Meltdown
• UNABOMBER
• The Widower: ‘Til Death Do Us Part
• Ice Age: Continental Drift
• The Forever Purge