EXCLUSIVE: A24 has won the multi-party bidding war for Olivia Wilde and Annapurna’s buzzy Sundance Film Festival film The Invite. The title was won with a highly competitive eight-figure deal after a 72-hour marathon bidding battle. The bids started at $10 million and climbed upward. Word was that Wilde wanted a theatrical release.
Toward the end, it was a three-horse race after Warner Bros‘ new contemporary film label headed by former Neon marketing guru Christian Parkes put in a last-minute bid against A24 and Focus Features. Now, A24 has the film. Previous bidders on the project included Netflix, Neon, Searchlight and even Sony.
The Invite reteams Wilde with Megan Ellison and Annapurna, who produced Booksmart.
The Wilde-directed romantic comedy follows two couples. Joe and Angela (Wilde and Seth Rogen) are on thin ice, and tonight might be when it all falls apart. Unfortunately, their upstairs neighbors (Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz) are about to arrive for dinner, and everything that can go wrong goes worse.
Wilde shot the The Invite in chronological order, approaching the Rashida Jones and Will McCormack-adapted movie like a play.
A24 has once again made waves at the Sundance Film Festival, securing the rights to The Invite, the latest project from director and actress Olivia Wilde, following a highly competitive bidding war among major studios and streaming platforms.
The acquisition underscores the strong industry buzz surrounding the film, which premiered to packed screenings and early critical interest at Sundance. While specific financial details of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, sources close to the negotiations describe the bidding process as intense, with multiple high-profile players vying for distribution rights.
The Invite marks Wilde’s return to the director’s chair after her previous features garnered significant attention for their bold storytelling and cultural relevance. The film is said to blend sharp social commentary with an intimate narrative, a combination that aligns well with A24’s reputation for championing distinctive, auteur-driven cinema.
A24’s acquisition continues the studio’s tradition of leveraging Sundance as a launchpad for critically acclaimed and commercially successful films. Over the years, the company has built a strong presence at the festival, often emerging with some of the most talked-about titles and turning them into awards-season contenders.
The director told Deadline Awards Editor Antonia Blyth at Sundance that the premiere there “was the best night of my life, it was so fun. To sit and laugh with that audience was just so wonderful, so full of joy. I was just levitating in my seat.”
UTA Independent Film Group and FilmNation co-repped the sale. Wilde is repped by CAA, Untitled, Narrative and JSSK. Cruz is also at CAA and Untitled. UTA reps Norton, Rogen, McCormack and Jones.
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