Olivia Wilde Fights for Theatrical Release of ‘The Invite’ After Sundance Success

Olivia Wilde says she was determined to bring her new comedy, The Invite, to cinemas after seeing the strong reaction from audiences at the Sundance Film Festival.

Speaking at a press conference at the Locarno Film Festival, where the film was set to screen for 8,000 people in the Piazza Grande, Wilde said the audience response at Sundance convinced her that the movie belonged on the big screen.

“I wanted to investigate this phenomenon that we found at Sundance when we felt the film have that chemical reaction with the audience the first time,” Wilde said. “It was extraordinary.”

For Wilde, that reaction was a sign that the film should be experienced collectively in theaters rather than going straight to a streaming service.

“I thought, well, this was magic. We have to listen to this. We have to fight for it,” she said.

Wilde also spoke openly about the financial pressure filmmakers can face when choosing between a theatrical release and streaming. She said streaming companies can offer financiers significantly more money, making the decision difficult for independent films.

“They bribe you to not take theatrical,” Wilde said. “You get paid more. Not me, not the filmmaker. The financiers will get a lot more money to go to streaming.”

She credited producer Megan Ellison of Annapurna for supporting her decision to pursue a cinema release and accepting A24’s theatrical offer, even though Wilde suggested that streaming companies had made larger offers.

Wilde said Ellison understood the importance of the audience response at Sundance and was willing to prioritize the film’s theatrical potential over a bigger financial return.

The director also argued that comedy, in particular, benefits from audiences watching and laughing together.

“I really feel that there’s no genre that benefits from the communal experience more than comedy,” Wilde said. “As humans, we’ve gathered and told stories and laughed together for thousands of years.”

She believes comedy has increasingly been treated as a lower-priority genre for cinemas, with many films going directly to streaming. Wilde said she wanted to challenge that trend with The Invite, including by shooting the movie on 35mm film.

“I felt that comedies had been relegated to kind of second tier that didn’t deserve theaters,” she said. “And the first place we confronted that was really in production.”

The decision appears to be paying off. Since its U.S. release on June 26, The Invite has earned $23.5 million domestically and another $18 million internationally across around 30 territories.

The film’s Locarno screening was especially meaningful for Wilde. Instead of playing to the few hundred people she had originally imagined, The Invite was scheduled to screen before a sold-out crowd of 8,000 in the Piazza Grande.

“Tonight we’re going to watch it with 8,000 people. I actually can’t believe it. I am in shock,” Wilde said.

The film will continue its international rollout, with Swiss distributor Ascot Elite scheduled to release The Invite in Switzerland on August 13.