Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor face dinosaurs in David Robert Mitchell's 'The End of Oak Street'
David Robert Mitchell returns after nine years with a Spielberg-inspired family blockbuster produced by J.J. Abrams and released by Warner Bros on August 12, 2026, as Anne Hathaway's fourth film of the year.
Mitchell's return after nine years
David Robert Mitchell, the director behind the cult horror hit It Follows (2015) and the enigmatic Under the Silver Lake (2018), returns to cinemas with La Fin d'Oak Street (The End of Oak Street), his fourth feature film and first in nine years. Released by Warner Bros on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, the film arrives at the height of summer, with Le Monde noting the studio released it quietly, seemingly unsure what to make of it. Mitchell, who began in independent cinema, now helms a family blockbuster produced by J.J. Abrams, the filmmaker behind two Star Wars and two Star Trek entries. The film runs 1 hour 40 minutes, with music by Michael Giacchino, photography by Mike Gioulakis, and editing by John Axelrad.
- It Follows, Mitchell's cult horror feature debut
- Under the Silver Lake, his second film
- La Fin d'Oak Street released in theaters, his fourth feature
A suburban family meets the Mesozoic
The Platt family lives on Oak Street in an American suburb set in 1982. Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are parents on the verge of divorce, with Greg secretly delivering pizzas after losing his job. Their two teenagers, Audrey and Brian, navigate adolescence, one playing with friends and the other dreaming of astronomy. One night, an intense flash of light engulfs the neighborhood. Upon waking, the family finds no water, no electricity, and dinosaurs hiding in the bushes: stegosaurs, velociraptors, spinosaurs, and one or two T-Rexes. Some creatures even have feathers, a detail the reviews highlight. The family must unite to survive in this hostile new environment.
Spielberg homage and Amblin tradition
Mitchell does not hide his Spielbergian anchoring, both moral and visual. La Libre describes the film as an heir to Poltergeist (1982), written by Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, and to Jurassic Park (1993), which reinvented the dinosaur film through digital effects. The 20minutes review compares the concept to imagining the creatures of Jurassic Park settling into the 1980s suburb of E.T., with dinosaurs rummaging through neighborhood trash cans. J.J. Abrams, whom 20minutes calls a worthy heir to Spielberg, produces, pulling Mitchell's cerebral horror sensibility toward family entertainment in the vein of Jumanji or The Goonies. Franceinfo places the film in a longer Hollywood tradition of monsters invading quiet suburbs, from E.T. and Gremlins to Stranger Things.
Hathaway's prolific year
At 43, Anne Hathaway appears in her fourth film of 2026 with La Fin d'Oak Street, following Mother Mary, Le Diable s'habille en Prada 2 (The Devil Wears Prada 2), and L'Odyssée. Le Figaro reports the actress said she did not expect to appear in so many films this year.
I thought someone was playing a joke on me.
20minutes calls her performance one of her best roles, while La Libre describes her as a lucid "mater familias" who needs her husband to stop running from himself to love her.
Divided reviews
The critical reception is split. 20minutes and La Libre praise the film as an entertaining, wholehearted family adventure that balances domestic drama with Jurassic spectacle. Le Figaro is far harsher, calling it worthy of a B-movie and recommending it only for very indulgent fans of big creatures. Franceinfo criticizes the film for spreading itself too thin, refusing to commit to survival thriller, fantasy, or family drama, and rushing through nearly all of its plot threads with conventional scenes. Le Monde calls the film an aberration of a Hollywood disoriented since the Covid-19 pandemic, released quietly at the bottom of summer.
