After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, one family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings. A film by David Robert Mitchell, starring Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, and P.J. Byrne.
The END of OAK STREET
David Robert Mitchell
(2026)
In the suburban town of Flowervale, neighbors gather for a barbecue and participate in a sack race. The neighborhood appears idyllic, full of smiles and laughter. It reminds me of the TV series Desperate Housewives, where everyone projects a pristine facade to hide their dark secrets. We are then introduced to the Platts. On the surface, they look like a perfect family, but their marriage is quietly falling apart.
Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) is frustrated to find her son Brian (Christian Convery) brought their dog, Starbuck, to the gathering. She and her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) had already agreed to leave the pet at home. But Brian claims his dad gave him permission.
Tension rises when Greg tells Denise he has to make some afternoon deliveries, bailing on his promise to handle the grilling. Denise is confused. She thought Greg quit his side jobs after Chrysler rehired him and asks why he is still doing deliveries. Greg argues he just wants to make some extra cash and does not see the problem.
Disappointed, Denise reminds him they agreed to a family day, and now he is leaving early. She then brings up the dog, pointing out that they agreed to leave Starbuck at home before Greg went behind her back and told Brian that he could bring the pet here.
After Greg leaves, Denise sneaks her manuscript over to her neighbor, Mrs. Huddleston (Anne Gee Byrd), for editorial advice. Denise is an aspiring novelist who keeps her writing a secret from her family. Mrs. Huddleston, having edited her late husband’s work for forty years, finds the novel quite impressive.
Mrs. Huddleston praises the story’s intense and tiny details, highlighting the fact that the protagonist always keeps a yellow suitcase packed and ready for New York. She also notes that the scene where the protagonist cries while holding the suitcase and watching her children play in the yard is beautifully written and heartbreaking. However, Denise insists the story is purely fiction and not based on her own life.
Later, Mrs. Huddleston asks Denise to follow her to the backyard to show her something. There, they find a strange plant that neither of them recognizes. Denise offers to borrow a botany book from the library so they might be able to figure out what it is. However, Mrs. Huddleston points out that the plant has grown at an impossible speed. She is confident that it was not there a couple of days ago. Suspicious, Denise takes a photo of the plant with her Polaroid camera.
On her walk home, Denise is ambushed by her next-door neighbor, Mel (P.J. Byrne). He has been waiting to complain about her dog, saying it got into his yard again and woke him up with its loud barking. He also adds that the dog dug a hole in his fence and pooped all over the grass.
Denise apologizes and promises to keep the dog on a leash until they can fix the hole in Mel’s fence. Mel eventually backs down but warns Denise that if he catches the dog in his yard again, he will shoot it. Disturbed, Denise fires back, threatening to burn Mel’s house to the ground if he dares to point a gun at her dog.
Later that evening, Greg pulls into the driveway after finishing his deliveries just as Brian arrives back from hanging out with his friends. Greg asks Brian to help him remove the pizza delivery sign from the car roof and put it away in the garage. Brian asks why they cannot just leave it on the car, but Greg admits he has to take it off because the sign embarrasses Denise.
Catching the scent of cigarettes on Brian, Greg casually tells his son he should stop smoking. When Brian deflects and claims he does not smoke, Greg scolds him for lying since he can still smell it on him. He tries to reason with his son by asking if Brian is doing it to impress someone. Greg reminds him that smoking is the reason Brian’s grandpa had to have his vocal cords removed.
That night, while Denise works on her novel in the basement, a strong wind sweeps over the house. The disturbance and strange light cause Starbuck to start barking. Upstairs in his bedroom, Brian is awakened by the noise and notices a bright light spilling through his window. He heads outside to check on the dog, but the mysterious light is already gone.
The following day, Denise visits the local library, searching through every botanical book available to compare with the photo she took of the strange plant in Mrs. Huddleston’s backyard. Unable to find any matches, she turns to the librarian, Mrs. Valcourt (Emily Kuroda), hoping she might recognize it. Amused, Mrs. Valcourt takes a look and tells Denise the plant looks like a Pleuromeia. However, she brushes the idea off, asserting that it is impossible because that species has been extinct for over 200 million years.
Pleuromeia is an extinct genus of lycophyte (clubmoss-like) plants that lived during the Triassic Period (roughly 251–200 million years ago). It is closely related to modern quillworts (Isoetes) and is placed in the order Isoetales (sometimes treated as the separate order Pleuromeiales). An unbranched, upright trunk up to about 2 meters tall, topped by a crown of long, thin leaves near the growing tip; lower leaves and leaf bases were shed as the plant grew.
As a storm hits Flowervale that night, a strange light appears in the sky above the Platt house. Suddenly, everything falls silent and the house goes dark as the power fails. Brian’s older sister, Audrey (Maisy Stella), assumes that lightning must have hit a nearby transformer. When Denise emerges from the basement holding a lit candle, Brian asks what she was doing down there. Denise lies, telling him she was doing the laundry. Walking over to the window, Greg looks outside and sees that the entire neighborhood has also lost power.
Since there is nothing they can do, Greg suggests they go back to sleep, hoping the power will return by the time they wake up. Suddenly, they are all startled by the sound of someone screaming in the distance. Greg decides to take a look outside, but he sees nothing but a dark street.
Retreating into the house, Greg instructs Brian to make sure the back door is locked and to check on the dog. Moments later, Brian returns, reporting that the door is secured and Starbuck is in the doghouse. Greg then proposes they grab pillows and blankets so they can all sleep together in the living room.
Morning arrives, but the power still has not returned. Denise discovers that Starbuck is missing, assuming that he broke his leash and dug under the fence. Worried, Brian asks his parents if he can go looking for the dog. Greg instructs him to wait, concerned that the power lines might still be down on the street.
Greg tells everyone to stay inside while he heads out to look for Starbuck and see what kind of damage the storm left behind. He guesses the dog is probably in the McAllisters’ backyard. Denise says she will go with him, wanting to check on Mrs. Huddleston to make sure she is okay since she lives alone.
Denise splits off from Greg to check on Mrs. Huddleston. She knocks and calls out for her several times but gets no response. Growing worried, she notices the door is unlocked and lets herself in to look for her neighbor. In the kitchen, she is horrified to find Mrs. Huddleston lying dead. She appears to have been attacked by a wild animal, and Denise spots a blood trail leading out the open back door.
Grabbing a shotgun, Denise follows the trail into the backyard. However, the yard is completely unrecognizable. Beyond the fence, the landscape has transformed into a massive forest filled with prehistoric plants.
Meanwhile at the house, Audrey spots something gigantic lurking behind the trees. She yells for Brian to hurry up to the second floor. When he arrives, Brian is confused because Audrey cannot even describe what she saw, only that it is very big and moving in their direction. Suddenly, they both freeze in shock as a dinosaur’s tail sweeps past the window before disappearing into the dense foliage.
While looking for Starbuck, Greg hears the sound of something rummaging through the trash cans behind a nearby house. Assuming it is his dog, he calls his name but gets no response. Suddenly, Greg freezes when he sees a shadow moving across the wall. It appears to be a huge creature with a long neck. He tries to hide, but a Coelophysis spots him and charges, forcing Greg to run for his life.
Coelophysis was an extinct genus of slender theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Late Triassic, roughly 225–201 million years ago. Its name means “hollow form,” referring to its lightweight, hollow bones. It reached about 2–3 meters in length and stood roughly 1 meter high at the hips.
Just in time, Denise saves Greg by blasting the Coelophysis with a shotgun she grabbed from Mrs. Huddleston’s house. However, they are immediately chased by three more of the creatures. Sprinting for their lives, they manage to scramble back into their house right before one of the dinosaurs can reach them.
Terrified, Greg tells everyone to grab their things because it is no longer safe to stay in the house. They get into the car, and Denise slowly drives them away. But they soon come to a halt. The road ahead is gone, replaced by a vast water bog. They have no choice but to turn around and head down another street.
The situation becomes even more inexplicable when they encounter a cliff with half of a yellow bus resting on the edge, as if it was sliced clean by a mysterious cosmic force. They eventually realize that their entire neighborhood has been transported back to prehistoric times when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.
Dinosaurs have moved in.
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A film by David Robert Mitchell, starring Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Hudson Meek, Anne Gee Byrd, Emily Kuroda, Simms May, Grayson Kilpatrick, Pilot Bunch, Walker Russell, Hugo Silver, Michael-Christian Moore, David Alexander Kaplan, Christopher A. Martin, Denitra Isler, Isabella Aparicio, Marian E. Green, Scott Deal, Callie McClincy, and Andrea Frankle.
Written and directed by American filmmaker David Robert Mitchell, The END of OAK STREET is a sci-fi survival film that follows a family whose entire neighborhood is transported back to the prehistoric era. It’s the best dinosaur movie since Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic, JURASSIC PARK.
The film is highly entertaining and deserves to be watched on the biggest screen you can possibly find. The narrative core relies on a family drama formula, but it uses it effectively. A couple on the verge of separation is suddenly plunged into a perilous journey. As they encounter a series of bizarre circumstances and life-threatening situations, they are forced to work together to survive and rebuild their fractured relationship.
The dinosaur designs are amazing, and the film features several prehistoric creatures that I have never seen in other dinosaur movies.
While some might find the creature selection scientifically inaccurate because several species did not coexist in the same era, I find the choice refreshing. The film is a fictional story, not a documentary. Furthermore, we still do not fully understand how the crystal ball-like wormhole works. It is possible that the wormhole opens across multiple eras, pulling creatures from different times into one place. It is definitely fun to see new dinosaurs on screen without relying on bioengineering to turn them into hybrid monsters like the Jurassic World franchise did.
The family dynamic could be fleshed out a bit more. Certain moments feel illogical, serving only as plot devices to move characters from point A to point B. For example, Brian sees Starbuck being chased by a dinosaur and decides to go after his dog without telling anyone. Keeping it a secret is understandable because no parent in their right mind would allow it. But the fact that Brian ventures out alone in the dark is baffling. Not only could his dog be killed by the predator, but he could end up dead as well. Brian is such an annoying character that it is difficult to tell whether he is just reckless or really stupid.
That being said, the movie delivers a memorable twist in the final act. I do not want to spoil the surprise here, but it involves a time travel paradox executed so brilliantly that it earned an extra half star from me.
The END of OAK STREET premiered at Warner Bros. Studios on 9 August 2026. The film was theatrically released in the United States on 14 August.
The END of OAK STREET (2026)
Dinosaurs have moved in.
