{"id":795905,"date":"2026-07-31T18:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/795905\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T18:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:20:09","slug":"olivia-wildes-the-invite-nears-40-million-globally-rare-hit-summer-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/795905\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Wilde’s ‘The Invite’ Nears $40 Million Globally, Rare Hit Summer Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOlivia Wilde<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Invite<\/a>\u201d has become one of today\u2019s rare indie comedies to connect at the summer box office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tSandwiched between big-budget blockbusters like \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d and \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day,\u201d A24<\/a>\u2018s \u201cThe Invite\u201d has climbed to $20 million in North America and $15.7 million internationally from 36 markets after three weekends in wide release. Thanks to stellar reviews and even better word-of-mouth, ticket sales are about to surpass $40 million worldwide \u2014 and that\u2019s before the movie has opened in all overseas territories. It has yet to debut in key countries like Italy, France and Spain.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s holding up nicely in the U.S., and it still has a lot of key dates in Europe ahead,\u201d says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. \u201cI would not be surprised if it finished with over $60 million worldwide \u2014 that\u2019s excellent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, this summer\u2019s \u201cObsession\u201d ($262 million domestically, $459 million globally) and \u201cBackrooms\u201d ($196 million domestically, $389 million globally) were massive, paradigm-shifting successes in the arthouse space. But outside of horror, few independent releases have managed to surpass the $20 million mark at the domestic box office since COVID upended the movie theater industry. Others this year include A24\u2019s dramedy \u201cThe Drama\u201d starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson ($48 million domestically, $132 million globally), YouTuber Mark Fischbach\u2019s self-distributed \u201cIron Lung\u201d ($40 million domestically, $50 million globally) and two Angel Studios offerings, the romantic comedy \u201cSolo Mio\u201d with Kevin James ($25 million domestically) and historical drama \u201cYoung Washington\u201d ($45 million).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Invite,\u201d starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Edward Norton, was one of the biggest sales out of Sundance, with A24 nabbing domestic rights for $12 million. As the movie was sparking a bidding war, Wilde pushed for a traditional theatrical release. Her instinct was spot on, because 90% of opening weekend audiences recommended seeing \u201cThe Invite\u201d on the big screen rather than at home, according to PostTrak exit polls. Written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack and adapted from the Spanish film \u201cThe People Upstairs,\u201d the ensemble comedy plays out during a dinner party with a couple going through a rough patch and their free-spirited neighbors. Wilde labored on \u201cThe Invite\u201d for six years, dealing with delays from the 2023 actors and writers strike and devastating 2024 Los Angeles wildfires, as well as a complete cast turnover. Amy Adams,\u00a0Paul Rudd\u00a0and\u00a0Tessa Thompson\u00a0were originally set to star but departed as development stalled. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m grateful to see the communal experience of a comedy back in theaters \u2014 one that also resonates in a deeply emotional and heartfelt way,\u201d says David Permut, who produced \u201cThe Invite\u201d with Annapurna\u2019s Megan Ellison and Ben Browning. \u201cI think it\u2019s what people crave; it\u2019s something that has been missing at the box office for some time now, and the success shows the demand is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor a crowd-pleaser like \u201cThe Invite,\u201d A24 opted for a platform release, a method of distribution that indie studios have mostly abandoned since the pandemic got older audiences out of the moviegoing habit. A platform release involves opening a movie in select theaters, usually in New York City and Los Angeles, and slowly expanding to more cities before launching nationwide. It\u2019s a way to build awareness and generate buzz for something that\u2019s not yet familiar to the masses. Although \u201cThe Invite\u201d skews younger than the traditional arthouse release, with a quarter of the audience below the age of 25 and the majority around 35 years old, Gross believes the platform strategy \u201cmakes sense for this film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cReviews and word-of-mouth are outstanding, but they need time to circulate,\u201d Gross says. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s driving business now going into the fourth weekend of wide release.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSince indies like \u201cThe Drama,\u201d \u201cBackrooms\u201d and \u201cObsession\u201d opened nationwide from the start, \u201cThe Invite\u201d stands as the best platform release of the year. Others to attempt the limited-release strategy include Black Bear\u2019s crime thriller \u201cTuner\u201d ($4.5 million domestically), A24\u2019s BDSM drama \u201cPillion\u201d ($3 million domestically), Lionsgate\u2019s musical comedy \u201cPower Ballad\u201d ($2.6 million domestically) and Magnolia\u2019s satire \u201cMaddie\u2019s Secret\u201d ($1.1 million).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Invite\u201d is also the second-highest-grossing summer platform release since COVID, trailing only Wes Anderson\u2019s sci-fi dramedy \u201cAsteroid City,\u201d which earned $28.1 million domestically and $53 million worldwide. Arthouse movies weren\u2019t always a rarity during popcorn season; beloved hits like \u201cLittle Miss Sunshine,\u201d \u201cThe Big Sick,\u201d \u201cBlue Jasmine,\u201d \u201cBoyhood,\u201d \u201c500 Days of Summer\u201d and \u201cThe Kids Are All Right\u201d all released as counterprogramming before the dog days of summer. Nowadays, studios prefer to save their awards fare for fall and winter so they\u2019re fresh in the minds of voters. But recent Oscar winners like Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cSinners,\u201d the Daniels\u2019 \u201cEverything Everywhere All at Once\u201d and Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cOppenheimer\u201d premiered on the big screen months removed from traditional awards season launching pads, giving A24 confidence that quality movies can succeed at any time of year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIndie films don\u2019t have to conquer the summer,\u201d says analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. \u201cSometimes success means finding the audience the blockbusters weren\u2019t serving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Invite\u201d is Wilde\u2019s third directorial effort following 2019\u2019s well-reviewed comedy \u201cBooksmart,\u201d which generated $25 million globally against a $6 million budget, and 2023\u2019s provocative drama \u201cDon\u2019t Worry Darling,\u201d which grossed $87 million against a $35 million budget. She\u2019s starring in another summer indie, Magnolia\u2019s erotic thriller \u201cI Want Your Sex,\u201d which opens over the weekend. If Tom Holland and Zendaya, who star in \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d and \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day,\u201d are the king and queen of the summer blockbuster, Wilde might just be the titan of the indies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olivia Wilde\u2019s \u201cThe Invite\u201d has become one of today\u2019s rare indie comedies to connect at the summer box…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[17979,2642,88,139162,202852],"class_list":["post-795905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-a24","tag-box-office","tag-entertainment","tag-olivia-wilde","tag-the-invite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}