J.J. Abrams Shoots Down THE END OF OAKS STREET's CLOVERFIELD Connection Despite All Those Wild Clues

Sometimes a pile of coincidences really is just a pile of coincidences. Ever since the first trailer for The End of Oak Street arrived, fans have been picking it apart and finding some pretty convincing clues suggesting that the dinosaur movie might secretly be connected to J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield franchise.

Between character names, its original title, missing city blocks, and even some suspicious geography involving Bad Robot, the theory had plenty of fuel.

Unfortunately for anyone hoping Abrams was cooking up another surprise Cloverfield connection, he says there’s nothing to it. It’s like everything J.J. Abrams is involved with now has to be connected to Cloverfield!

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Abrams explained that the only genuine link between The End of Oak Street and the Cloverfield movies comes through Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who starred in 10 Cloverfield Lane and is married to The End of Oak Street star Ewan McGregor.

"The only connection to our Cloverfield movies is that Ewan’s partner is Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who was the star of 10 Cloverfield Lane, who we were very lucky to get to work with and who I adore. So there was that, but other than that, people are just making connections that they happen to see."

Well, fans certainly found a lot of connections to see. Directed by David Robert Mitchell, The End of Oak Street stars McGregor and Anne Hathaway as a married couple who wake up one day and discover that their entire neighborhood has somehow been transported back to prehistoric times.

Instead of dealing with a giant monster stomping through Manhattan or an alien threat, these characters suddenly find themselves sharing their surroundings with dinosaurs.

The first big clue that sent fans down the Cloverfield rabbit hole was the movie's original title, Flowervale Street. A mysterious Bad Robot movie with "Street" in the title was naturally going to raise a few eyebrows after 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Then there are McGregor and Hathaway's characters, who share the surname Platt. Fans immediately connected that name with Hud Platt from the original Cloverfield.

ThenThe Cloverfield Paradox enters the conversation. The third film in the franchise features news reports discussing entire city blocks disappearing as a result of tears in space and time created by a dangerous new device.

A whole neighborhood suddenly being dropped into prehistoric times certainly sounds like the kind of insanity that could fit comfortably into that mythology.

But the most wonderfully ridiculous coincidence may be a real-world one is that Oak Street in Santa Monica, California, ends at Clover Park. That location also happens to be right near Abrams' Bad Robot production company.

Come on! You can't really blame fans for putting on their detective hats after finding that one. Despite all those clues lining up in surprisingly convenient ways, Abrams says The End of Oak Street isn't another stealth chapter of the Cloverfield universe.

Unless there's some enormous secret being protected until audiences actually see the movie, it looks like fans simply constructed a pretty damn good conspiracy theory out of unrelated pieces.

And maybe that's for the best. We've had plenty of alien invasions and extraterrestrial threats across movies and television in recent years.

Dinosaurs deserve another shot at terrorizing people outside the boundaries of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchises, and the early word surrounding The End of Oak Street suggests Mitchell may have delivered something special.

Some of the first reactions are even calling it the best dinosaur movie since Jurassic Park, which sets an awfully high bar.

For Abrams, the prehistoric element was a major part of what made the project so appealing in the first place. "To have dinosaurs in our world, there was a juxtaposition that was so immediately exciting," said Abrams.

That's also a killer premise on its own. A normal suburban neighborhood suddenly ripped out of the modern world and thrown into an era populated by dinosaurs doesn't really need aliens, alternate dimensions, or a Cloverfield monster lurking around the corner to make things interesting.

Still, after everything fans managed to uncover, you have to appreciate how convincing the theory became. Apparently, though, a dinosaur is just a dinosaur this time.

The End of Oak Street hits theaters August 14.