Anne Hathaway has said films in which dogs are killed should automatically receive an R rating, arguing that audiences find such scenes particularly distressing. Her comments matter because they reflect widespread viewer sensitivity to animal harm on screen, especially amid concern about the fate of a dog in her new film, “The End of Oak Street”.

Speaking to Complex during the film’s press tour, Hathaway cited the reaction to “John Wick” and reassured viewers that the film may not break the rule they are worried about. Hathaway stars with Ewan McGregor as parents protecting their family after their suburban street is sent millions of years into the past, where dinosaurs threaten them; the Warner Bros. film, directed by David Robert Mitchell and produced by J.J. Abrams, is now in US cinemas.