Summary
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been a celebrated Hollywood duo since their breakthrough hit movieGood Will Hunting. Not only did Damon and Affleck both star in the Academy Award-winning film alongside Casey Affleck, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgård, and Robin Williams, but they also co-wrote the screenplay, which earned them the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1998. Since then,Damon has only written screenplays for three other movies, includingGerry(2002) andPromised Land(2012). Affleck, on the other hand, wrote the screenplays forGone Baby Gone(2007),The Town(2010), andLive By Night(2016).
Surprisingly,Affleck and Damon have only co-written one other screenplay afterGood Will Hunting. The film also happens to be one of the more overlooked recent movies directed by acclaimed filmmaker Ridley Scott, whosehighly anticipatedGladiatorsequelis finally set to be released in December 2024. Damon and Affleck co-wroteThe Last Duelalongside Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said,Extrapolations,You Hurt My Feelings) under Scott’s direction.The Last Duelis only one of a handful of onscreen collaborations between Damon and Affleck, which also includesProject Greenlight(2001-2015),Dogma(1999), and the celebrated 2023 sports docudramaAir.
Good Will Hunting Ending Exlained: What “He Stole My Line” Means
The last line of Good Will Hunting created a perfect full-circle moment that cemented the film’s thoughtful story despite being completely unscripted.
The Last Duel & Air Are Ben Affleck & Matt Damon’s Two Best Movies Since Good Will Hunting
Affleck and Damon co-wrote the screenplay for The Last Duel
Of the variouscollaborations between Affleck and Damonover the years,The Last DuelandAirare their two best afterGood Will Hunting. It’s unclear whether Damon and Affleck could ever outdo the unmatchable greatness ofGood Will Huntingat this stage in their careers as collaborators, although individually both have gone on to make several movies that are just as good, if not better, than the 1997 coming-of-age classic.Airwas a massive success among criticsand audiences, earning a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 93% and an impressive audience score of 98%.
The Last Duelis also widely celebrated, earning a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 85% and an audience score of 81%. Although neither of these films found the Academy Award success thatGood Will Huntingdid over two decades ago, both were considered among the very best new movies of their respective years. Interestingly,bothThe Last DuelandAirgive Affleck more of a supporting role to Damon’s leading role, similar to the onscreen relationship between Will and Chuckie inGood Will Hunting. While Affleck is undoubtedly a bonafide movie star in his own right, his supporting roles in his Damon collaborations are some of the most enjoyable performances of his acting career.
The Way Back Started A Brilliant Ben Affleck Trend That We Want More Of
The Way Back featured Ben Affleck as a high school basketball phenom turned coach and started a streak of critical successes that continued in 2023.
The Last Duel & Air Both Underperformed At The Box Office
WhileThe Last Duelearned widespread critical acclaim, the film was a massive box office flop, earning a worldwide box office of just $30 million against its hefty production budget of $100 million. This made it the 95th highest-grossing movie of 2021, an abysmal ranking compared toSpider-Man: No Way Home’s$1.9 billion gross, which easily topped the worldwide box office that year.Ridley Scott famously blamed the millennial generation for the film’s box office failure, claiming that there was a decreased interest in the history thatThe Last Duelfocused on among younger generations.
Airmade just under $90 million at the worldwide box office against its production budget of roughly $90 million. The film was produced by Amazon Studios and was originally meant to be released directly on Amazon Prime Video, which it eventually was soon after its unexpected theatrical release.Airwas given a shortened theatrical window due to how positively it tested among audiences, so essentially an exception was made that allowed the film to get a brief wide release in theaters before it became available to stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.Compared toThe Last Duel,Airwas much more successful at the box office.
What Ben Affleck & Matt Damon Are Doing Next
The Instigators, RIP, and Animals are coming soon
It’s no surprise that Damon and Affleck are continuing to work together into the 2020s.The Instigators, which Damon stars in alongside Casey Affleck, was directed by Doug Liman and produced by Ben Affleck.It wouldn’t be shocking if Ben made an appearance in that film, which comes out on June 27, 2025. Matt and Ben are also set to collaborate on two upcoming films for Netflix.RIPis a newly announced crime thriller starring Affleck and Damon written and directed by Joe Carnahan, whileAnimalsis another thriller that is set to be directed by Affleck and stars Damon. TheGood Will Huntingduo shows no signs of slowing things down.
Matt Damon & Ben Affleck’s Next Movie Together Is A First In Their 35-Year History
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s next movie is their first genre-specific collaboration, despite having nearly three decades of history working together.
Air
Cast
Air tells the story of one of Nike’s most popular shoes ever made, the Air Jordan. Matt Damon stars as Sonny Vaccaro, who took a risk to center a shoe line on the then amateur basketball player Michael Jordan. Damon is reunited with Ben Affleck in the film, and also stars Jason Bateman, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis.
The Last Duel
The Last Duel is a historical epic drama set amid the Hundred Years War, and explores the ubiquitous power of men, the frailty of justice, and the strength and courage of one woman willing to stand alone in the service of truth. Based on actual events, the film unravels long-held assumptions about France’s last sanctioned duel between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris; two friends turned bitter rivals.
