ECG Worldwide has acquired writer-director Pat Bermel's thrillerThe Invitation and will offer it for worldwide licensing at next week's AFM,company president Barbara Mudge announced today (Feb 11). The picture will makeits premiere sales marketing screening at AFM. Lance Henriksen, whose creditsinclude Aliens, The Right Stuff and Dog Day Afternoon, stars as a former adventurer who discovers the key to life andshares it with his unsuspecting friends one weekend at his island retreat. Thecast includes Chris Shyer, who appears in Paramount's upcoming thriller TheCore, Stellina Rusich,Douglas O'Keeffe and Sarah-Jane Redmond.

'I'm verypleased with the addition of The Invitation to our line-up,' Mudge said in astatement. 'The film is a thriller with a twist in the tradition of AgathaChristie, delivering highly sellable elements and an uplifting resolution.'Writer-director Bermel's next directorial project, the sc-fi thriller NatureOf The Beast, is due togo into production in August. The Invitation was produced by Dan Gibbons and MatthewKelly.