Anne Hathaway Says Films That Kill a Dog Should Be Rated R — and Ewan McGregor Agrees
Anne Hathaway wants any film that kills a dog on screen to carry an automatic R rating — restricting viewers under 17 unless accompanied by an adult. She made the case during her press tour for The End of Oak Street, telling Complex that audiences have been "traumatized" by the way cinema treats its canine characters, citing the John Wick films as a particular source of lasting distress (Variety).
The John Wick franchise famously opens with the murder of a puppy, a plot choice that galvanised the series' revenge narrative and drew sharp reactions from animal-loving audiences. Hathaway believes the damage lingered long after the credits rolled, leaving viewers bracing for the worst whenever a family dog appears on screen (Consequence).
Her co-star Ewan McGregor, who plays her husband in The End of Oak Street, backs her position. McGregor agreed with Hathaway's call for an automatic R rating on any film in which a dog dies, according to a Yahoo Entertainment interview published the day before her Complex comments circulated (Yahoo Entertainment).
The context for their remarks is The End of Oak Street, a Warner Bros. release now playing in theatres nationwide. Directed by David Robert Mitchell and produced by J.J. Abrams, the film stars Hathaway as Denise, the matriarch of a suburban family whose street is transported millions of years back in time, forcing the parents to protect their children from dinosaurs. The family's dog, Starbuck, is a trusted companion at the centre of the story — exactly the kind of role that, in Hathaway's view, puts audiences on edge (Variety).
The MPAA's rating system, administered in the United States by the Classification and Rating Administration, does not currently single out animal deaths as an automatic trigger for an R. Violence toward animals is weighed alongside other factors — language, sexual content, overall intensity — and a film can receive a PG-13 even when a pet's death is depicted.
Hathaway's 2026 is crowded. The End of Oak Street is one of several projects she has scheduled for the year, alongside the release of her song "Mother Mary," which drew mixed reactions from fans when it dropped in April, and the highly anticipated sequel to The Devil Wears Prada (Complex).
What makes her stance land is the platform: an A-list actor on a studio press tour, using the visibility of a dinosaur thriller to argue for an industry-wide change in how animal deaths are rated. Whether CARA — or any lawmaker with influence over film classification — takes up the suggestion is a separate question. For now, Hathaway and McGregor have put the idea into the conversation at a moment when millions of moviegoers are deciding what to see this weekend.
