Olivia Wilde and Penélope Cruz Steal the Show at A24’s ‘The Invite’ Premiere

There are certain red carpet moments that feel like a cultural event all on their own, and the premiere of A24’s ‘The Invite’ delivered exactly that. A24 held the premiere for ‘The Invite’ at The DGA Theatre in Los Angeles on June 24, with Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, and more in attendance.

As images from the night began circulating online, it was the striking duo of Wilde and Cruz commanding the most attention, and the buzz around the film itself is just as electric as their presence on the carpet.

‘The Invite’ marks something of a full-circle moment for Wilde as a filmmaker. The film is her third time behind the camera, following ‘Booksmart’ in 2019 and ‘Don’t Worry Darling’, and this time she also steps in front of the lens, starring opposite Seth Rogen as a couple whose marriage has quietly unraveled.

The screenplay, written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, is an English-language remake of the beloved Spanish comedy ‘The People Upstairs’, and Wilde’s decision to take on such a tonally tricky project signals genuine creative ambition.

The film’s road to this premiere was anything but quiet. When ‘The Invite’ premiered at the Eccles Theater as part of the Sundance Film Festival in January, the bidding war that followed saw multiple studios competing for distribution rights, with bids reaching as high as $10 million before narrowing between A24 and Focus Features, with offers climbing over $12 million. A24 ultimately secured the North American rights, and their instinct to position the film for a summer theatrical release looks increasingly well-founded.

The premise at the heart of ‘The Invite’ is deceptively simple. The film follows Joe and Angela, a married couple on thin ice, who invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, with the night spiraling into unexpected places as the evening raises the question of whether they have reignited the spark or lit the match that burns it all down. Cruz and Edward Norton play the neighbors, and the dynamic between these two couples is the engine that drives everything.

The casting alone gives the film a rare sense of occasion. Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz are both four-time Oscar nominees, with Cruz winning for ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’, while Seth Rogen is a four-time Emmy winner for ‘The Studio’, and Wilde herself won an Independent Spirit Award for directing ‘Booksmart’. Assembling that level of talent for an intimate four-hander is a bold swing, and by all accounts it paid off. Wilde reflected on the experience, saying “You can’t imagine what a gift it is for any director to have a cast who is so completely engaged at all times.”

Long before the red carpet photographs began trending, the critical reception gave audiences a very clear signal about what to expect.

Following its Sundance premiere, ‘The Invite’ holds a 93 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 77 out of 100. Reviews have been warm enough to position this as a genuine awards conversation piece heading into awards season, which is not something that comes naturally to a comedy about a dinner party gone spectacularly sideways.

Part of what makes those numbers land with such weight is the context Wilde herself provided during the film’s Sundance run. Speaking to IndieWire about the film’s journey outside the studio system, Wilde said, “I think it just proves every single time that the movies that are made outside the system, and therefore with the freedom to allow for creative experimentation, they are always the ones that ultimately the studios end up recognizing as being valuable because those are the movies the audiences want.”

With ‘The Invite’ opening in limited release on June 26 before expanding nationwide on July 10, A24 is making a calculated wager on adult audiences who are hungry for smart, R-rated comedy. Late June has increasingly become fertile ground for counterprogramming, particularly for adult-skewing comedies that can thrive on word of mouth. Given the pedigree assembled here and the critical momentum already building, the studio’s confidence seems entirely justified.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!