‘The End of Oak Street’ teaser hints at bizarre twist as Anne Hathaway and her family run for their lives
Warner Bros. just teased something eerie with the first teaser for ‘The End of Oak Street,’ and it’s exciting and odd, in a good way. This project, which some may remember under its earlier title ‘Flowervale Street’, comes from filmmaker David Robert Mitchell, the same mind behind ‘It Follows’. And if that title taught viewers anything, it’s that he doesn’t exactly play by the usual rules. The footage, running just about a minute and a half, wastes no time setting up a strange domestic moment that quickly spirals into something much bigger.
Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor play a married couple, Denise and Greg, living what seems like a pretty normal suburban life at first glance. Then comes a question from their son Brian, played by Christian Convery, and it causes a bit of unease. He asks, “Mom? What’s happening to us?” Denise looks shaken, not in a dramatic over-the-top way, but more like someone trying to process something that makes no sense. She tells him, “I think our house, our neighborhood, our whole street has moved.” Not metaphorically, literally. This leaves the family confused, mirroring what everyone watching is thinking in that moment, as one of them asks, “How the hell is that even possible?”
The teaser then takes a bizarre turn as it cuts to an overhead shot that shows the street breaking away, as if it has been dropped into a completely different environment, surrounded by a dense, almost prehistoric-looking jungle. And then, all of a sudden, dinosaurs appear. The family is shown running for their lives as they are chased through a setting that feels stitched together from two different worlds that were never meant to meet. Also joining the cast is Maisy Stella, though the teaser keeps her role under wraps for now, adding to the mystery.
Behind the scenes, the project is backed by Warner Bros. and produced under Bad Robot, the banner led by J.J. Abrams. Meanwhile, Mitchell not only directed but also wrote the script, which suggests a very specific vision driving the film. Production duties are shared by Abrams and Hannah Minghella for Bad Robot, alongside Matt Jackson and Tommy Harper from Jackson Pictures, with Jake Weiner and Chris Bender serving as executive producers. As for when audiences can actually watch this strange story unfold, the studio has set a release date for August 14, placing it right in the middle of the summer movie season.
