Buyers at the final Park City edition of Sundance have tipped the hat to how business used to get done on the Utah mountain, as A24 prevailed in a three-day bidding war and closed an eight-figure US deal for Olivia Wilde’s dinner party comedy The Invite on Tuesday evening.
The four-hander starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz – adapted by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack from Cesc Gay’s 2020 feature Sentimental – drew immediate interest after its Saturday night premiere at the Eccles Theatre.
Sources said the three-day pursuit came down to A24, Focus Features, and the new Warner Bros specialty division led by former Neon marketing head Christian Parkes. Netflix, Black Bear, Neon and Searchlight Pictures were understood to have been in the mix before withdrawing.
Wilde instructed her representatives to push for a theatrical release and bids were understood to have reached $10m by Monday evening.
The director-star reunited on the Premieres selection with producer Megan Ellison and Annapurna, who produced her 2019 directorial debut Booksmart, which earned $25m at the worldwide box office through UA Releasing. Wilde’s directing follow-up, 2022 Venice selection Don’t Worry Darling, grossed $87.6m through Warner Bros.
UTA Independent Film Group represented US rights to The Invite with FilmNation, which also handles international rights on the feature.
Earlier on Tuesday Neon confirmed it had picked up worldwide rights to Adrian Chiarella’s Australian conversion therapy horror Midnight entry Leviticus.
At time of writing, buyers continued to circle Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s fantasy romance Wicker starring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgard. Sundance Film Festival continues through February 1.
No comments yet