Olivia Wilde brought her third feature to the Piazza Grande at the 79th Locarno Film Festival on August 8, screening to a sold-out crowd of 8,000. The European premiere marked a rare moment: a mid-budget adult comedy arriving at a major festival not because it needed the buzz, but because the director insisted.
The Invite, written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, follows a couple whose struggling marriage is tested when they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors to dinner. The cast includes Wilde alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton. Distributed domestically by A24 and internationally by FilmNation, the film opened in the United States on June 25.
Wilde spoke plainly about the financial calculus of getting the film to theaters. "They bribe you to not take theatrical," she said at Locarno, according to Yahoo Entertainment. "It's a bribe. They pay you more. The financiers will get a lot more money to go to streaming." She credited her production's financiers for allowing a theatrical run regardless, and cited comedy's need for a communal viewing experience as the reason she pushed for it. "We have to fight for it to have a run in theaters."
According to AceShowbiz, the film had approached $40 million in worldwide box office by early August. The Locarno trip came as Wilde continued the film's European rollout, following Booksmart (2019) and Don't Worry Darling (2022).
The money said streaming. The director said theater. The Piazza Grande sold out.
