Why The End Of Oak Street Failed To Take Off At The Box Office

"The End of Oak Street," written, directed, and produced by David Robert Mitchell, is an absolute delight and scored a solid review right here at Looper ... but unfortunately, it drastically underperformed at the box office. So what happened here? Keep reading and watch the video above to find out.

First, what's the deal, generally, with "The End of Oak Street?" Mitchell's story centers around the seemingly happy Platt family, made up of dad Greg (Ewan McGregor), mom Denise (Anne Hathaway), daughter Aubrey (Maisy Stella), son Brian (Christian Convery), and their loyal but mischievous dog Starbuck. One night, after a wild storm, they leave their house and discover that their entire suburban neighborhood on the titular Oak Street is, basically, "Jurassic Park" — in that it's filled with hungry, fast, and wily dinosaurs.

Frankly, a movie where Anne Hathaway blasts a dino with a shotgun should be an immediate hit, and "The End of Oak Street" is legimately delightful. Why, then, did it flop at the box office? We think there are a few factors. Frankly, the biggest one is probably just competition. "The End of Oak Street" released on August 14, just weeks after "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" became the top-grossing movie of the year and Christopher Nolan's magnificent take on "The Odyssey" ruled the box office a few weeks before that. Both of those movies are still making a ton of money ... and they're also hogging IMAX screens, preventing an action flick like "The End of Oak Street" from being screened in its intended IMAX format. Thanks to these reasons — and some others we have yet to mention — "The End of Oak Street" only made about $21 million off a budget of $80-92 million, putting it in third place and officially making the film a flop.

Let's be clear. The marketing for "The End of Oak Street" probably didn't set the movie up to succeed — people didn't even know that beloved movie star Anne Hathaway was in it, apparently, and while trying to keep major plot points under wraps, Warner Bros. was perhaps too vague about a movie where, again, Hathaway shoots dinosaurs with a shotgun. There's also the situation with artificial intelligence that could have turned moviegoers against it. On August 8, Variety reported that "The End of Oak Street" partnered up with "DogPack," a podcast "hosted" by two speaking AI dogs, to promote Starbuck's role in the film. While the dog Starbuck in "The End of Oak Street" is played by a plucky dog performer named Brisket and, thus, is not AI, this move was bad, especially as people across the world sour on the use of AI in artistic endeavors.

What else could have caused "The End of Oak Street" to flop at the box office? Even though J.J. Abrams is simply an executive producer, his name understandably gives moviegoers pause after the disaster that was his "Star Wars" sequel trilogy; the film was also probably hurt by being the latest in a string of Warner Bros. movies about monsters like "Rampage" and "The Meg" while not being a part of a major franchise.

"The End of Oak Street" is a deeply creative, wildly audacious, and incredibly fun film to go see if you're looking for some air conditioning and solid entertainment on a hot summer day. Alas, its box office fate is all but sealed ... but you can go see it in theaters now and give it a boost if you like.