'The End of Oak Street' delivers Jurassic-sized thrills to China

A new sci-fi survival film, "The End of Oak Street," brings dinosaur thrills and summer fun back to the big screen in China.

A replica of Oak Street with dinosaur-themed installation at the "The End of Oak Street" premiere venue in Beijing, Aug. 7, 2026. [Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]

Starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, the film is written and directed by David Robert Mitchell and counts J.J. Abrams among its producers. The story follows the Platt family as their suburban neighborhood is transported to a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs after a mysterious cosmic event, forcing them to stick together to survive.

Director Mitchell said his lifelong desire to make a dinosaur film was inspired by his father's passion for paleontology and the stop-motion films he watched as a child. The idea came to him while walking through his neighborhood a few years ago, when he imagined a dinosaur in a mundane, middle-class neighborhood setting — an image that became the film's core concept.

The director said the film's immersive storytelling and the strong performances of actors such as Hathaway and McGregor make the danger feel real and personal, as if it's happening to the audience. "It was important to me that the movie have all of that: the spectacle, the suspense, the action and the personal stakes — all the things you want from a popcorn movie," he said.

"'The End of Oak Street' is a total thrill ride. I've seen it with audiences. They scream and laugh and cry and cheer. It's the sort of film that reminds you why you go to the movies," producer J.J. Abrams said. "I think the big takeaway is the thrill of seeing dinosaurs in a suburban setting. The contrast of these wild creatures in an absolutely mundane neighborhood is spectacular. The insane story becomes far more relatable than you might expect."

The film is also nostalgic, not only due to its story being set in the early 1980s, but also because it clearly shows influence from Steven Spielberg's films of that era, as well as his 1993 masterpiece "Jurassic Park," as critics have pointed out. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 99 critics' reviews are positive.

A poster for "The End of Oak Street." [Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures]

"The End of Oak Street" premiered in Beijing on Aug. 7 with a replica of Oak Street featuring dinosaur footprints, a giant dinosaur bursting through a garage door, and dinosaur cosplayers roaming the movie theater in playful interactions that drew crowds. The film received rave reviews after the screening. It will be released nationwide on Aug. 14.