The End of Oak Street (2026)

The End of Oak Street is a 2026 American science fiction survival film written, co-produced, and directed by David Robert Mitchell. It stars Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella and Christian Convery as a family whose suburban neighborhood has been transported from 1982 into the age of dinosaurs.

The End of Oak Street premiered at the Steven J. Ross Theater on August 9, 2026, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 14 by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $115 million worldwide against a production budget of $80–92 million.

Plot

On July 10, 1982, aspiring novelist Denise Platt lives with her husband Greg, children Audrey and Brian, and dog Starbuck on Oak Street in the suburban town of Flowervale, Michigan. The couple's marriage is strained; Denise privately contemplates divorce, while Greg, having lost his regular job, secretly works as a pizza delivery driver.

The following day, Denise photographs a mysterious plant that suddenly appears in her neighbor's yard. The local librarian, Mrs. Valcourt, identifies it as Pleuromeia, which went extinct hundreds of millions of years ago. A giant pile of animal feces appears in neighbor Mel's yard. Radio broadcasts report increased solar-flare activity. During a storm, a huge white light suddenly engulfs Oak Street, accompanied by a change in atmospheric pressure, and a power outage.

When Denise and Greg search for Starbuck, who went missing in the storm, they discover Oak Street is surrounded by a prehistoric landscape from which dinosaurs emerge and start hunting and killing people in the neighborhood. The family boards up their windows and doors and Audrey concludes the flashes of light were wormholes that transported the entire neighborhood millions of years into the past.

Greg reveals he is aware of Denise's wish to divorce and confesses to losing his job. They see their neighbor Mel shooting at pterosaurs from his roof with a revolver before being violently killed and eaten. Later, Brian and Audrey venture outside after Brian sees Starbuck in their yard. Denise and Greg follow in their car after realizing the children are missing. Jeannette Christiansen, Brian's neighborhood crush, joins them after revealing her parents have been killed. Denise and Greg see a flash of light while trying to find the children, and follow it to a house containing a wormhole. They refuse to leave without their children, and the wormhole disappears. They evade a stampeding herd of dinosaurs, reconcile, and reunite with the kids.

When an Allosaurus attacks the group, Greg is killed protecting the others. The others flee and encounter the wormhole again above Mrs. Valcourt's house. They discover the wormhole appears and disappears at regular intervals. Jeannette jumps in and disappears, but Brian misses the opening and falls. A pterosaur grabs him, but Starbuck appears and attacks the creature. The group attempts to shelter inside the house, but are cornered by large crocodile-like reptiles. Mrs. Valcourt appears and kills one of the creatures with a double-barreled shotgun before being mauled by another, giving the family an opportunity to escape back to the roof. They jump through the wormhole together.

They return to July 11, 1982 and land in a backyard swimming pool, approximately twenty minutes before Oak Street was teleported away. Denise warns Oak Street residents to leave by calling from a payphone, prior to the white light appearing. Jeannette runs to warn her parents. Greg appears after Denise places a pizza delivery order to their location, where he is embraced by Denise and his kids. The white light appears again, engulfing the suburb as Oak Street disappears and is replaced by the prehistoric landscape.

Two years later, the military has contained the area while scientists study both the prehistoric environment and its wildlife in attempts to investigate the wormholes. Denise's warnings have made her a hero, and her book, titled The End of Oak Street, has made the family moderately wealthy. The film ends with the Platts and the Christiansens having a barbecue, with two identical Jeannettes.

Cast

Anne Hathaway as Denise Platt, an aspiring novelist

Ewan McGregor as Greg Platt, a pizza delivery driver and Denise's husband

Maisy Stella as Audrey Platt, the daughter of Denise and Greg

Christian Convery as Brian Platt, the son of Denise and Greg

Jordan Alexa Davis as Jeannette Christiansen, a neighborhood girl who Brian has a crush on

P. J. Byrne as Mel Jacobs, the Platts' irate neighbor

Emily Kuroda as Mrs. Valcourt, a librarian who is one of the Platts' neighbors

Anne Gee Byrd as Mrs. Huddleston, a kind, elderly neighbor to the Platts

Hudson Meek as Kaden Tucker, a local bully

David Alexander Kaplan as Charles Tucker, Kaden's brother who is in conflict with Brian

Production

Development

In March 2023, an untitled film directed, written and co-produced by David Robert Mitchell was in development at Warner Bros. Pictures, with J. J. Abrams and Hannah Minghella producing for Bad Robot and with Matt Jackson and Tommy Harper producing for Jackson Pictures. Anne Hathaway was cast in the lead role.

By February 2024, it was revealed that Ewan McGregor had been cast, with Maisy Stella and Christian Convery joining in March. In late March, the title was revealed to be Flowervale Street. In April, Jordan Alexa Davis, P. J. Byrne and Chris Coy joined the cast.

In January 2026, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca revealed that the film would be getting a new title. In March 2026, with the release of the trailer, the official title was announced to be The End of Oak Street.

Filming

Principal photography began on March 22, 2024, in London and Atlanta, and wrapped on June 4. Filming on soundstages took place at Electric Owl Studios in DeKalb County while location filming in Atlanta was used to represent Oak Street. The production chose to film on Westwood Avenue SW, Erin Avenue SW, Dover Boulevard SW, Howell Drive SW, and Manford Road SW due to their detached houses, broad lawns and mature trees that were typical of American suburbs during the 1980s when the film is set.

Post-production

As with the Jurassic Park franchise, Industrial Light & Magic became the lead visual effects vendor and handled the creation of the dinosaurs for the film. Jay Cooper served as Production VFX Supervisor.

Music

In March 2026, it was announced that Michael Giacchino would compose the score. The soundtrack album contains 27 cues and was released on August 7, 2026.

Commercial songs from the film, but not on the soundtrack

"Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar

"Shake It Up" by The Cars

"Don't Let Him Know" by Prism

"Turning Japanese" by The Vapors

"Flame Of Love" by Raven

"Get Your Radio" by The Secrets

"Ain't Got You" by The Willy Waller Band

"Arie And Lee" by Juli Brace

"Hey" by Blue Shoes

"Valerie" by Steve Winwood

"More Than This" by Roxy Music

"Find Your Way Back" by Jefferson Starship

Release

The End of Oak Street had its world premiere at the Steven J. Ross Theater on August 9, 2026, and was released theatrically in the United States on August 14 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was previously scheduled for May 16, 2025, and March 13, 2026.

Marketing

The film's marketing campaign was criticized on social media for using generative AI. In particular, a now-deleted video shared by Warner Bros. featured the dog Starbuck from the film interviewed in the AI-generated dog podcast Goldie & Frenchie, owned by DogPack, a social media platform tailored to dog owners.

Reception

Box office

As of September 7, 2026, The End of Oak Street has grossed $51 million in the United States and Canada, and $64 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $115 million.

In the U.S. and Canada, The End of Oak Street was released alongside Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie and The Brink of War, and was projected to gross around $20–25 million during its opening weekend. In addition, it was projected to make more than $2 million in Thursday night previews. The film was produced on a budget of $80–92 million. It went on to debut to $21 million during its opening weekend, finishing in third at the box office.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 320 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.0/10. The website's consensus reads: "Tapping into the primal pleasures of the classic creature feature, The End of Oak Street is pulpy good fun carried off with a light touch and a sharp bite." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 69 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Zachary Lee of RogerEbert.com awarded The End of Oak Street four out of four, praising its combination of family drama, apocalyptic imagery, and dinosaur horror. Lee highlighted the film's themes of family secrets and parental sacrifice, while also calling it "the most thrilling dinosaur movie in ages." Associated Press' Jake Coyle praised the film's mixture of science fiction, horror and 1980s adventure-film influences, as well as the performances of Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent was similarly enthusiastic, describing the film as largely better than the first Jurassic World and Jurassic World Dominion, praising Mitchell's use of influences from films such as Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Nikki Baughan of Screen Daily gave the film a positive review, calling it a "fun, fast-paced creature feature", also noting it "draws effectively on classic Spielbergian adventures" and that "most of the film plays little like Jurassic Park on steroids".

Some critics were more mixed. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "high-end trash", acknowledging its entertainment value while criticizing its reliance on 1980s Amblin-style nostalgia. Likewise,

Amy Nicholson in the Los Angeles Times wrote that the Spielbergian influences would "almost satisfy our thwarted hopes for Steven Spielberg's own Disclosure Day" if Mitchell's script "wasn't such a groaner". Nicholson wrote that The End of Oak Street is emblematic of Mitchell "need[ing] to prove he can make a big-budget crowd-pleaser" while not capturing the same mood as his earlier work. A two star review from Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian concluded the film's Spielberg influences do not "feel like homage so much as a pastiche produced by an AI Spielbergbot". Houston Chronicle praised the film's dinosaur effects, pacing and performances but criticized its plot holes and occasionally illogical character decisions.

Notes

References

External links

Official website

The End of Oak Street at IMDb