What a difference a year makes for Warner Bros. This time a year ago, Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” became the sixth of a Hollywood record seven consecutive releases from the studio to earn a domestic opening weekend of $40 million or greater.
Now, the Bad Robot-produced “The End of Oak Street” comes as all seven of Warner’s 2026 releases have opened below $40 million domestically, with the highest-grossing movie of the bunch being Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” with a modestly successful $241 million worldwide.
Though a couple of R-rated New Line offerings, “They Will Kill You” and “Evil Dead Burn,” turned a small profit theatrically, high-profile bombs like “The Bride!” and “Supergirl” left Warner’s theatrical revenue sinking 46% year-over-year in its latest quarterly report, a hard fall from a year ago when it released the hit films “A Minecraft Movie” and “Sinners.”
Warner Bros. has a guaranteed hit at the end of the year with “Dune: Part Three,” but one hit is not going to be enough to turn 2026 around. Over the past few weeks, it has not looked like “The End of Oak Street” would be the film that could stop the bleeding for the studio, as it is currently projected for an opening weekend of $20-25 million against an $80 million budget.
But there is some good news: critics really love David Robert Mitchell’s thriller. Starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as a couple that must protect their children when their neighborhood inexplicably lands in a prehistoric world filled with carnivorous dinosaurs, “The End of Oak Street” has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85% at time of writing.
Critics have praised the film for balancing its “Jurassic Park”-inspired plot with ruthless kills, dark humor and a surprising amount of heart. Some reviews have described “Oak Street” as a cut above the past decade’s worth of “Jurassic World” films, which made billions at the box office but left critics unimpressed.
Of course, those moviegoers who have shown up over and over for “Jurassic World” out of love for dino mayhem are exactly the core audience that “Oak Street” needs to bring out, preferably with the help of families with teens and preteens. With schools resuming in parts of the U.S. starting this week, family turnout may be slow for “Oak Street” if word-of-mouth catches on with that demographic.
But if adult moviegoers in the 18-35 demo — with the help of Gen Xers intrigued by the ’80s Amblin influence of Mitchell’s filmmaking — come out of theaters this weekend raving about “Oak Street,” Warner Bros. may have a sleeper hit on its hands even if this title joins the other 2026 offerings in the sub-$40 million opening club. This summer has seen the theatrical marketplace carry multiple hit films at once, so the continued presence of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” shouldn’t be an issue for “Oak Street” if it builds enough of a reputation as a gripping end-of-summer thriller.
From here, Warner Bros. is hoping that the final third of 2026 will bring better numbers with a slate that includes the Sandra Bullock/Nicole Kidman legacy sequel “Practical Magic 2,” Alejandro Iñárritu and Tom Cruise’s biting apocalyptic satire “Digger,” and an animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “Cat in the Hat” before the year closes out with a potential billion-dollar contender in “Dune: Part Three.”
Along with “The End of Oak Street,” a more preschool-friendly dinosaur film will arrive this weekend: Paramount/Spin Master’s “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie,” the third feature film from the popular Canadian kids series that launched on Nick Jr. in 2013. This installment, which sees the titular team of puppies fight to save an island of dinosaurs from the clutches of the evil Mayor Humdinger, is projected for a $15-18 million opening, a few steps below the $22.7 million opening of “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” in 2023.
While shaping up for a modestly profitable theatrical run, the real money in “Paw Patrol” has always been in merchandising, as Paramount and Spin Master have made billions in toys, clothes, backpacks and other products related to the franchise. When you consider that plenty of dino-themed “Paw Patrol” school supplies are now in stores, Paramount’s decision to place this film in mid-August right when kids are going back to school makes a lot more sense.
