Film fans have become convinced that a Cloverfield sequel is hiding in plain sight, starring Anne Hathaway in its lead role.
After appearing in The Devil Wears Prada 2, the star will front The End of Oak Street, a new sci-fi film from producer and Bad Robot mastermind JJ Abrams.
Directed by David Robert Mitchell, it follows a family who must navigate a perilous new world when their neighborhood is transported to a mysterious new location during a sudden cosmic event.
Hathaway plays mum Denise, with Ewan McGregor as dad Greg. Together, they are forced to band their family together in the face of dinosaurs and perilous cosmic phenomenon.
‘Our house, our neighbourhood, our whole street has moved,’ Hathaway intones as the trailer begins.
And that’s not all – some fans are convinced that the film is hiding an even bigger secret up its sleeve.
With Abrams’s production company also being behind the 2008 hit Cloverfield and its sequels, some have wondered whether The End of Oak Street might be a secret entry in the franchise.
Wrote Warren42 on X: ‘I’ll be shocked if this isn’t part of the Cloverfield world.’
MitchAdams2013 was ‘99% sold on this being a Cloverfield movie,’ while Scribbles69 called it a ‘backdoor Cloverfield reveal.’
‘please be a cloverfield movie PLEASE,’ begged yezkhev, as maddfinnnnnnn17 promised to ‘lose her mind’ if it should come to pass.
Lending some credence to the theory are the events of 2018 sequel The Cloverfield Paradox, in which an unruly particle accelerator managed to disappear five city blocks, in a similar manner to what’s happened on Oak Street.
And then there’s the character’s names. Identified as the Platt family, they share a last name with TJ Miller’s character in the original film.
But are the Cloverfield faithful setting themselves up for a fall?
Ultimately, the biggest sticking point in this fan theory is one of logistics. The End of Oak Street is a Warner Brothers release, while Paramount Pictures distributed all previous Cloverfield films.
This means that, unless an agreement were made between the two production companies, then any Cloverfield connection would have to be an off-the-books one.
But this wouldn’t be the first time Lost co-creator Abrams has dropped a secret Cloverfield film on fans.
In 2016, minds were blown when it was revealed that a film hitherto known as ‘The God Particle’ was actually a secret Cloverfield sequel.
Subsequently retitled The Cloverfield Paradox, this made it the third film in the franchise, and it put fans on the lookout for Abrams’s next trick.
Soon after, eagle-eyed fans worked themselves up into a frenzy with the announcement of the Abrams-produced Overlord on Netflix.
However, Abrams denied such rumours, and Overlord was released in 2018 as… well, Overlord.
Commenting on the fan theories, Abrams promised that a ‘true, dedicated’ Cloverfield sequel would eventually come to pass.
According to Den of Geek, he also hinted that Cloverfield 4 would be released in cinemas, unlike The Cloverfield Paradox, which ultimately debuted as a Netflix release.
The End of Oak Street is out in UK cinemas on August 14, 2026.
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