Movie-goers have been treated to a mix of familiar faces and new superstars this blockbuster season. Backrooms and Obsession kicked off the summer in surprising fashion before Pixar, Christopher Nolan, and Marvel proved to be the inevitable winners of the warm-weather months. Before the seasons change, however, we get one more cinematic treat in the form of The End of Oak Street, a sci-fi survival film produced by J.J. Abrams and starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. Oak Street’s trailers have shrouded the movie in mystery in a manner similar to Abrams’ Cloverfield franchise, but does the movie live up to the hype and deserve to be a late summer hit?

What Is ‘The End of Oak Street’ About?

Set in the early 1980s, The End of Oak Street follows the Platt family, who live on the titular, idyllic street. While they are all smiles to the neighbors, things are troubled behind closed doors. Denise (Hathaway) is growing restless in her marriage to Greg (McGregor), who seems preoccupied with working extra jobs due to issues at work. Their son Brian (Christian Convery) is beginning his awkward teenage years, while his older sister Audrey (Maisy Stella) dreams of a future at Cornell that the family can’t afford. One night, however, all their futures are thrown into uncertainty when a bright light flashes, and they find their street transported to a prehistoric time. With dinosaurs roaming the streets and residents being rapidly picked off, they must find a way to survive and work out how this happened. Oak Street is written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, his first film since 2018’s Under the Silver Lake. Mitchell broke through with 2014 horror It Follows, and The End of Oak Street’s trailers suggested it may have some of that movie’s slow creeping dread. Ultimately, the film isn’t quite in that same mold, but it does bear a resemblance to hits of the past.
‘The End of Oak Street’ Is a Callback to Classic Sci-Fi Adventure

Ewan Mcgregor and Anne Hathaway sit in a car with their children in ‘The End of Oak Street’Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

From the outset, Oak Street has the feel of an Amblin movie: a quiet, idyllic suburban neighborhood thrown into chaos by something supernatural, forcing ordinary people to become heroes. There are obvious nods to early Steven Spielberg, while the chaos and dark humor bring to mind the work of Joe Dante. In general, the movie feels like something from the past, and not just because of the retro setting. At a time when audiences are used to world-spanning disaster movies and multiverses, keeping the action located in a single neighborhood feels fresh, creating a nail-biting maze for our heroes to survive. Mitchell doesn’t flood the screen with dinos, instead using clever techniques to keep them concealed, making their eventual attacks all the more dramatic. He also creates a sense of true peril, with characters dying suddenly and graphically to create a sense that anyone could be next. Some of the plot points and “movie science” require mammoth leaps in logic as the story progresses into pure fantasy. Equally, the time spent with the characters occasionally exposes some plot threads that don’t find satisfactory conclusions. However, the film has a couple of secret weapons that paper over the cracks.
Big Stars Give ‘The End of Oak Street’ Its Heart

Ewan Mcgregor and Anne Hathaway hold each other in ‘The End of Oak Street’Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

In less capable hands, the central characters’ dynamic might not have worked. Denise is a homemaker who is writing a novel in her basement based on her unhappiness, brimming with resentment at Greg’s apparent lack of passion for life. The emotional stakes are painted with broad strokes, but happily there are two award-winning actors to elevate the material. Hathaway puts a lot of emotion into every scene, from the bristling unhappiness to her spiraling anxiety that the family won’t survive. That plays well off of a game McGregor, whose Greg appears to be the exact opposite of an action hero. Cautious but blindly optimistic, the pair work between the lines of the script to add unspoken depth and gravity between the chase scenes. Equally, a film that features younger actors prominently can be hampered by annoying performances, but Convery and Stella achieve a nice balance between sibling bickering and genuine care for each other. Oak Street focuses mainly on the family (plus adorable dog Starbuck), but P.J. Byrne (The Wolf of Wall Street) has an amusing supporting role as the Platts’ fussy neighbor. The real stars, however, are the ones that roar.
‘The End of Oak Street’s Action Is Worth the Price of Admission

A dinosaur giving chase in The End of Oak StreetImage via Warner Bros

Dinosaur movies can sometimes struggle to mix the past with the present. The Jurassic Park franchise in particular struggled with inserting the prehistoric beasts into an urban setting, with the installments set on an isolated island always feeling a bit more fun than The Lost World’s T. rex terrorizing San Francisco or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s auction facility. Here, Mitchell finds the perfect mix by transporting Oak Street to the past, with the prehistoric world they are taken to forming a foreboding perimeter where different creatures can jump in at any moment. While there is a substantial build-up to the action scenes, once all hell breaks loose, the movie is a lot of fun. The sight of Starbuck barking at Pterodactyls on the street or McGregor swinging a sledgehammer at a T. rex’s ankle might look absolutely ludicrous anywhere else, but here they work within the heightened reality we find ourselves in. The family’s DIY survival, relying on kitchen knives, baseball bats, and anything that comes to hand as weapons, adds tension that makes the film fly by. The combination of giant beasts and isolated streets is The End of Oak Street’s unique selling point, with those self-imposed limitations making for action worthy of the big screen.

The End of Oak Street may not be the follow-up that fans of Mitchell’s work were expecting, but it’s 90 minutes of edge-of-your-seat entertainment that commits to its concept and entertains throughout. Big, loud, and guaranteed to make you jump at least once, it’s another eye-catching performance from the always-busy Hathaway, and proof that blockbuster entertainment doesn’t need to follow a franchise formula. The End of Oak Street releases in theaters on August 14.

Release Date

August 14, 2026

Runtime

100 minutes

Director

David Robert Mitchell

Writers

David Robert Mitchell

Producers

Chris Bender, J.J. Abrams, Tommy Harper, David Robert Mitchell, Jake Weiner, Matt Jackson, Joanne Lee

Pros & Cons

Fantastic action.
Strong lead performances from Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor.
Storytelling inspired by the greats.

The movie’s science requires you to suspend your disbelief.