The End Of Oak Street Trailer Looks Like The Most Fun Dinosaur Movie In Years
It's taken the better part of 30 years, but dinosaurs are no longer the domain of Steven Spielberg alone. In a fun quirk of timing, the "Jurassic Park" director is currently focused on a very different sci-fi project with the UFO-focused "Disclosure Day" invading theaters later this year. That only makes it all the more fitting to see an original, Amblin-inspired dinosaur romp set to release this summer with "The End of Oak Street." Filmmaker David Robert Mitchell ("It Follows," "Under the Silver Lake") takes the reins in what might very well pull off what the "Jurassic World" franchise never could — a dino movie that's actually thrilling, well-made, and funny, to boot.
Yes, everyone's finally dropping the "Cloverfield"-like pretense about what this movie is about. That includes Warner Bros. itself, which has released a promising new trailer that's jam-packed with footage putting those prehistoric beasts at the front and center of the action. "The End of Oak Street" feels like a throwback in the best sense of the word. We have unqualified A-listers Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway leading this adventure, an inexplicable premise that somehow brings an entire neighborhood into a land overrun by those "terrible lizards," and (most importantly) a sense of pure fun that the "Jurassic" franchise has sorely lacked since, well, Spielberg's 1993 original.
Is it asking too much for a single dino movie to right the wrongs of three decades of misfires, flops (we still think about you, "65"), and other disappointments? Probably. Does the visual of Anne Hathaway firing a rifle at a carnivore active something primal in all our brains? You bet. Check out the footage above!
The End of Oak Street looks exactly like the dinosaur movie we've been waiting for
With all due respect to multiple generations raised to believe that the only dinosaur cinema around would have to be in the form of "Jurassic Park" or "Jurassic World" movies, we're so glad those days seem to be over and done with. We'll continue to look forward to more big-budget blockbusters after the somewhat more back-to-basics (but tepidly-received) "Jurassic World: Rebirth." But there's no denying the power of an old-school original about a family having to escape an entire neighborhood infested with monsters trying to eat them. Nothing more and nothing less. That's what movies are all about, folks.
As it turns out, there's plenty of reason for optimism here. In addition to being written and directed by a proven talent like David Robert Mitchell, "The End of Oak Street" is also produced by J.J. Abrams, is composed by veteran Michael Giacchino, and is filled with more split diopter shots than we've seen since the last Brian De Palma movie. Forget the dinosaurs of it all — that's how you get butts in seats. The thriller will receive a blockbuster-sized IMAX release when it stomps into theaters on August 14, 2026 (and August 12 internationally). The synopsis reads as follows:
After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.