The End of Oak Street

Summarize Fact Check

In 1982, aspiring novelist Denise Platt lives on Oak Street in the suburbs with her husband, Greg, their daughter Audrey, their son Brian, and their dog, Starbuck. The couple's marriage is strained: Denise privately contemplates divorce while Greg, having lost his regular job, works secretly as a pizza delivery driver. One day, Denise observes and photographs a mysterious plant that suddenly appears in a neighbor's yard. At the library, the librarian Mrs. Valcourt identifies the plant as a species that became extinct millions of years ago. An unidentified pile of animal excrement also appears in another neighbor's yard, while radio broadcasts report increased solar-flare activity. During a storm, Greg returns home from a pizza delivery when a huge white light suddenly engulfs Oak Street, accompanied by a change in atmospheric pressure, and a power outage.

The following morning, Denise and Greg leave their house to search for Starbuck, who has gone missing. They discover that Oak Street is surrounded by a prehistoric landscape, from which dinosaurs emerge and kill people in the neighborhood. Back home, Audrey concludes that the flashes of light were wormholes that transported the entire neighborhood millions of years into the past. That night, Greg reveals he knows Denise is contemplating divorce and admits that he delivers pizzas now because he lost his regular job and was too ashamed to tell her. Meanwhile, Brian sees Starbuck outside his bedroom window and ventures outside to get him with Audrey accompanying him. Denise and Greg then leave in search of their children. Brian and Audrey encounter Jeannette Christiansen, Brian's neighborhood crush, whose parents have been killed by dinosaurs and they take her with them. Elsewhere, Denise and Greg see a flash of light and follow it to a house containing a wormhole. However, they refuse to leave without their children, and the wormhole disappears. A herd of dinosaurs pursue them but they find shelter in a car, reconcile with each other and reunite with the children.

The following morning, an Allosaurus attacks the group and Greg is killed protecting the others who are able to flee. They encounter the wormhole again above Mrs Valcourt's house and reach the roof. They learn that the wormhole appears and disappears at regular intervals. Jeannette jumps through it and disappears but when Brian attempts to follow, he misses the opening and falls. A pterosaur grabs him, but Starbuck appears and attacks the creature, saving Brian. The group attempt to take shelter inside Mrs. Valcourt's house but it is infested with dinosaurs. Mrs. Valcourt emerges from hiding and manages to kill one before being killed by the others. Escaping back to the roof, the group are able to jump into the wormhole.

Returning to 1982, Denise realizes that they have returned to their own neighborhood on the same night Oak Street originally disappeared, approximately twenty minutes before the event. Denise warns Oak Street residents to leave the neighborhood prior to the white light appearing and arranges for Greg to make his next pizza delivery to a distant bus stop. When Greg arrives, 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 the prehistoric environment and its wildlife. Denise has published a book titled The End of Oak Street, based on her experiences.

• Anne Hathaway as Denise Platt, an aspiring novelist
• Ewan McGregor as Greg Platt, a pizza delivery driver who lost his previous job
• 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
• Emily Kuroda as Mrs. Valcourt, a librarian
• Anne Gee Byrd as Mrs. Huddleston
• Hudson Meek as Kaden Tucker
• David Alexander Kaplan as Charles Tucker

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

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.^[7] Anne Hathaway was cast in the lead role.^[8]

By February 2024, it was revealed that Ewan McGregor had been cast,^[9][10] with Maisy Stella and Christian Convery joining in March.^[11][12] In late March, the title was revealed to be Flowervale Street.^[13] In April, Jordan Alexa Davis, P. J. Byrne and Chris Coy joined the cast.^[14][15]

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.^[16] In March 2026, with the release of the trailer, the official title was announced to be The End of Oak Street.^[17]

Filming

Principal photography began on March 22, 2024 in London and Atlanta, and wrapped on June 4.^[18][19][20]

Music

In March 2026, it was announced that Michael Giacchino would compose the score.^[17][21] The soundtrack album contains 27 cues and was released on August 7, 2026.^[22]

More information No., Title ...

The End of Oak Street (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"A Thin Flowervale Between Life and Death"	1:18
2.	"Horticulture Club"	2:06
3.	"A Good Fence Is the Best Defense"	0:37
4.	"Father and Father Away"	1:24
5.	"The Family Loners"	0:56
6.	"The Light in the Static"	1:11
7.	"Let Sleeping Dogs Library"	0:55
8.	"Something Weird This Way Comes"	1:19
9.	"No More Mr. Nice Geyser"	2:33
10.	"A Den of Coelophysis or The Swamp Drains You"	10:12
11.	"Out Theory"	2:48
12.	"A Few Fries Short of a Happy Mel"	1:51
13.	"Spoiled Platts, Pt. 1"	3:12
14.	"Spoiled Platts, Pt. 2"	3:13
15.	"Lurch and Rescue"	2:09
16.	"Sphere Street Blues"	1:36
17.	"Reunion Station"	1:43
18.	"One Good Mate Deserves Another"	1:04
19.	"Once and for Allosaurus"	4:49
20.	"Don't Be Sorrow with Me"	1:27
21.	"Mi Casa Boo Casa"	6:06
22.	"The Starbuck Stops Here"	2:39
23.	"Old Pool Politics"	3:15
24.	"I Need a Little Space-Time"	2:28
25.	"The Swap of the Ages"	1:12
26.	"Main on End of Days"	1:44
27.	"The End of Oak Suite"	4:45
Total length:		68:32

Close

The End of Oak Street had its world premiere at the Steven J. Ross Theater on August 9, 2026,^[23] and was released theatrically in the United States on August 14 by Warner Bros. Pictures.^[24] It was previously scheduled for May 16, 2025, and March 13, 2026.^[13][25]

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.^[26][27][28]

Box office

In the U.S. and Canada, The End of Oak Street will be released alongside Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie and The Brink of War, and is projected to gross around $20–25 million during its opening weekend.^[4] In addition, it is projected to make more than $2 million in Thursday night previews.^[5] The film was produced on a budget of $80–92 million.^[a]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 185 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10. 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."^[29] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[30]

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."^[31] 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.^[32] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent was similarly enthusiastic, describing the film as better than the recent Jurassic World movies and praising Mitchell's use of influences from films such as Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.^[33] 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 like Jurassic Park on steroids".^[1]

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.^[34] Houston Chronicle praised the film's dinosaur effects, pacing and performances but criticized its plot holes and occasionally illogical character decisions.^[35]