Anne Hathaway battles dinosaurs in David Robert Mitchell's The End of Oak Street, an Amblin-style summer thriller
David Robert Mitchell's The End of Oak Street, starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as a suburban couple whose 1982 neighborhood is transported to the prehistoric era, will reach theaters in mid-August with early reviews calling it the best dinosaur film since 1993.
A suburban family meets the prehistoric
David Robert Mitchell will return to theaters in mid-August 2026 with "The End of Oak Street," his first film in eight years. Set in 1982, the story follows the Platt family of a tranquil suburban cul-de-sac in the town of Flowervale. Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are parents to teenager Audrey (Maisy Stella) and younger son Brian (Christian Convery), along with an Australian cattle dog named Starbuck. The family is on the verge of divorce when their entire neighborhood is transported 250 million years into the past, where they face dinosaurs including Coelophysis, Pterosaurs, an Allosaurus, stegosauruses, and a T. Rex.
An Amblin homage eight years in the making
The film is an explicit homage to the Amblin Entertainment productions of the 1980s, drawing comparisons from reviewers to "E.T.," "Poltergeist," "Gremlins," and "The Goonies." Mitchell, who gained recognition with the 2014 psychological horror "It Follows" and followed it with the neo-noir "Under the Silver Lake" (2018 per Deadline, 2019 per IndieWire), set the story in 1982 at the height of the Spielbergian blockbuster era. The score by Michael Giacchino is described by The Independent as essentially "wonderment" refined. The film features Steve Winwood's "Valerie" prominently, with IndieWire noting it plays in full, or close to it.
Early critical reception
Advance reviews published on August 12 are largely positive. IndieWire calls the film the biggest surprise of the summer and the best dinosaur movie since 1993. The Independent declares it better than every Jurassic World movie. Rolling Stone calls it the best homage to a Spielberg movie in ages. AP describes it as "a bonkers blast." Variety is more measured, calling the film preposterous but unrespectable fun and placing it in the last-gasp-of-summer movie category. Deadline notes that while the film is not Academy Award material, the sheer level of action is jaw dropping.
- It Follows establishes Mitchell as a horror auteur
- The End of Oak Street brings Amblin-style dinosaur thrills to theaters
Hathaway's prolific 2026
The film adds to what Deadline calls a banner year for Anne Hathaway, who has five movies in release between May and October 2026. Named titles in the sources include "Mother Mary," "The Devil Wears Prada 2," "The Odyssey," and "The End of Oak Street," with one additional film not identified. The film also shares its opening week with another dinosaur-themed wide release, the family-oriented "Paw Patrol Dino Movie," as noted by Deadline. The production filmed in the Atlanta area, which stands in for Michigan on screen.
Family dynamics at the center
The Platts' suburban crisis frames the sci-fi cataclysm. Greg works a side job delivering pizzas and hides a whiskey bottle in the garage. Denise secretly writes a novel about a woman leaving her family for a fulfilling life in New York. Their children suspect the divorce is coming. Rolling Stone describes Denise as losing patience with a husband who, in her words, has a tendency to pretend problems simply do not exist. The film also includes what The Independent calls a wonderfully written bit of queer representation, with Brian's character drawn to a new girl in town named Jeanette, played by Jordan Alexa Davis.
