Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 26, 2026

The Invite

The Invite is a 2026 American comedy film directed by Olivia Wilde, and written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. It is an English language remake of the Spanish film The People Upstairs by Cesc Gay. It stars Wilde along with Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton.

Last revised
Jul 26, 2026
Read time
≈ 14 min
Length
3,292 w
Citations
60
Source
Wikipedia ↗
The Invite
Theatrical release poster
Directed byOlivia Wilde
Screenplay by
Based on
The People Upstairs
by Cesc Gay
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAdam Newport-Berra
Edited by
Music byDevonté Hynes
Production
companies
Distributed byA24
Release dates
  • January 24, 2026 (2026-01-24) (Sundance)
  • June 26, 2026 (2026-06-26) (United States)
Running time
107 minutes2
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$31.9 million34

The Invite is a 2026 American comedy drama film directed by Olivia Wilde from a screenplay by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. It is an English-language remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs (Sentimental) by Cesc Gay. The film stars Seth Rogen, Wilde, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton.

The film premiered at the Eccles Theater as a part of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, receiving critical acclaim. It received a limited release in the United States on June 26, before opening wide on July 10, by A24, and has grossed $31.9 million worldwide.

Plot

In San Francisco, failed musician Joe arrives home from his job as a jazz band teacher at a conservatory to discover his stay-at-home wife Angela has invited their upstairs neighbors, divorcée Piña and widower Hawk, over for dinner at their apartment. Joe and Angela's marriage is rocky and they bicker constantly, most recently over the loud sex sounds they hear from upstairs every night. Joe plans to confront the couple, but Angela, who is desperate to befriend the neighbors, demands he keep calm and quiet.

Piña and Hawk arrive at the apartment as Joe and Angela are in mid-argument. Unprepared to host a dinner party, Angela makes several awkward mistakes, such as not having any wine and not checking Piña's dietary restrictions. Meanwhile, Joe openly antagonizes the couple, but is surprised to see they are impressed by his brutally honest nature. The group eventually warm up to one another, although Joe still resents his neighbors for their noise and is troubled when he learns Hawk has seen Angela naked through a window.

Later that night, Piña and Hawk apologize for the noise they make during sex and reveal to Joe and Angela that they participate in sex parties which is the reason for the noise; Joe and Angela are titillated by this discovery. Piña admits that she and Hawk came to the dinner party hoping to invite Joe and Angela to have group sex with them. Joe and Angela are eager, but Piña, who is a sexologist, is unsure after seeing the couple fight throughout the night. Instead, they decide to swap partners. However, Angela is too nervous to initiate sex with Hawk while Joe falls while dancing with Piña and hurts his back.

Another argument erupts between Joe and Angela, and he berates their neighbors. Piña gets the couple to talk about their relationship, and learns of the resentment they have to each other and the fact they have not had sex in a year. Piña suggests the couple should separate instead of sticking together for the sake of their daughter, Maggie, or find a way to reframe their relationship, as the current status appears to have run its course. Angela and Joe seemingly agree to separate, and discuss their next moves, but upon returning from the kitchen, discover Piña and Hawk have left. Joe returns to his office and plays his piano, which he had previously refused to play out of shame at his failed career, with Angela eventually joining him.

Cast

Production

Development and writing

Olivia Wilde (left), the film's director and star, and Rashida Jones, the film's co-screenwriter

In March 2021, it was announced that a remake of the 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs (Sentimental),5 an adaptation of Cesc Gay's stage play Els veïns de dalt / Los vecinos de arriba,6 was in development from producer David Permut.7 The original film had also been adapted in France, Italy, Switzerland, and South Korea.8 In March 2022, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were hired to direct the film, with Rashida Jones and Will McCormack set to write the screenplay.9 In May 2023, retitled The Invite, Amy Adams, Paul Rudd and Tessa Thompson were cast to star.10 Development stalled until April 2025, when it was revealed Olivia Wilde would direct a cast including Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton and herself with filming underway in Los Angeles.11

The film is dedicated to Diane Keaton, who died on October 11, 2025, in a cursive written statement ("To Diane") during the end credits.12

Filming

On May 21, 2025, it was reported that filming took place in San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week,13 specifically at the auditorium5 in A.P. Giannini Middle School in the Sunset District, a BART train from Glen Park station to Balboa Park station, Make-Out Room14 nightclub in the Mission District,5 Castro District Farmers' Market,15 and Molinari Delicatessen.16 It was shot in 23 days, in chronological order.17 The monologue that Norton's character, Hawk, delivers in the third act regarding the origin of his character's name was written by Norton himself, with Rogen's immediate response improvised.18

Music

Devonté Hynes composed the score.19 The first track ("Contentious Environment") was released as a digital single from the soundtrack album on June 15, 2026.19 The soundtrack was released digitally by A24 Music on June 26.20 Sade's "By Your Side" (2000) is also featured in the film.212223

Track listing

The Invite (Original Soundtrack)
No.TitleLength
1."Through the Window"0:22
2."Contentious Environment"3:05
3."Suite for Cello I"0:36
4."We're Doing This"0:30
5."Hawk in Bathroom"0:13
6."They're On Their Way"0:10
7."Flan"0:12
8."Sex Parties"0:36
9."Arguments"1:23
10."Explain Yourself + Our Neighbours"2:11
11."Palladio I. Allegretto"0:35
12."Can We Please Do a Reset"0:26
13."Window"0:10
14."Tequila"0:57
15."Carmen Suite No. 2 – II. Habanera"3:56
16."A Little Example"0:35
17."The Band"0:30
18."Not Heard Anything"0:21
19."Suite for Cello II"2:16
20."Unapologetic"0:11
21."Hawk's Story"1:34
22."You Do Have Sex, Right?"0:10
23."I Don't Eat Meat"0:29
24."Sorry"0:15
25."Suite for Cello III"1:16
26."It's Over / Suite for Cello"1:52
Total length:24:01

Release

From left to right: Norton, Wilde, and Rogen attending the premiere of The Invite at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival source ↗

The Invite premiered at the Eccles Theater as a part of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival on January 24.24 Following its premiere, multiple studios were reported to be in talks for distribution rights to the film, including A24, Netflix, Searchlight Pictures, Focus Features, Sony Pictures, Black Bear Pictures (which subsequently acquired UK rights from FilmNation Entertainment), Neon and Apple TV, with bids reaching as high as $10 million.25 The bidding war eventually narrowed down to A24 and Focus, with offers going over $12 million.26 Despite a last-minute bid from Warner Bros. Pictures' nascent specialty division (later christened Warner Bros. Clockwork), A24 ultimately acquired the film's U.S. distribution rights.2728 The film was also programmed in the main competition of the 73rd Sydney Film Festival and in the Piazza Grande section of the 79th Locarno Film Festival.2930

It received a limited release in the United States on June 26, 2026,31 with a wide release on July 10,32 and was released in the United Kingdom on July 3.33

Reception

Box office

As of July 26, 2026, The Invite has grossed $19.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $12 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31.9 million.34

The film made $379,000 in Los Angeles and $54,000 in New York City from limited release screenings in its first weekend, all of which were sold out,32 becoming one of the top per-screen openings of the year.34

During its first weekend in the United Kingdom, it grossed £799,382 (approximately $1.06 million) and came in third place.33 The United States wide expansion opened to 1,610 locations (up from 28 screens) in its third weekend, grossing over $5.7 million for a $7.38 million cume and coming in sixth place at the domestic box office.34

Critical response

Left to right; top-bottom: The performances of Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton were praised by critics.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 255 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Perversely funny while giving its quartet of fine actors some of their best material yet, The Invite is a sophisticated farce that reaffirms Olivia Wilde as one of the most exciting filmmakers working today."35

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".36 Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an 89% positive score, with 69% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.34

Owen Gleiberman of Variety deemed the film to be "marvelously entertaining" and compared it to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?37 Similarly, Adam Chitwood of TheWrap compared the result to something like "the great-great-grandchild" of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, underscoring the film to be "endlessly relatable, sometimes uncomfortably so".38 Benjamin Lee of The Guardian rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, welcoming it as a "genuinely funny and uncommonly intelligent comedy for adults".39

Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a B+ rating, assessing that, a bit of stumbling in the third act notwithstanding, the rest of the film is "such a treat, a truly adult comedy with plenty to say and even more laughs to share".40 David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter declared the film as "well worth RSVPing" in the bottom line.8 Glenn Garner of Deadline Hollywood wrote that the film "explores dynamics of sex and relationships with raw and endearing honesty".41 Tim Grierson of Screen Daily described the film as an "uneven comedy-drama that ultimately has something fresh to say about sex, love and commitment".42

Bilge Ebiri of Vulture noted that the characters' "emotional twists don't feel fully earned", also pointing out that The Invite "feels at times like a film that could have benefited from more control", while giving a fully negative assessment about the use of the musical score.43 Warning that The Invite "is difficult to describe without causing confusion", Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal characterized the film as "a wild fantasy built on a foundation of painful verisimilitude", as well as one of the best films of the year, even if it is "essentially a play".44 Peter Bradshaw, also of The Guardian, rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, complimenting the comedy and praising Rogen as being "on top of his game".45

It was named one of the "5 Greatest Comedy Movies of 2026" by Fawzia Khan of CBR, writing that it is a "comedy of errors that borrows from Polanski and Bunuel without forgetting to be genuinely funny".46

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Astra Midseason Movie Awards June 30, 2026 Best Picture The Invite Runner-up 47
48
Best Director Olivia Wilde Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Edward Norton Runner-up
Best Supporting Actress Penélope Cruz Won
Best Screenplay Will McCormack and Rashida Jones Won
Golden Trailer Awards May 28, 2026 Most Original Trailer "Ding Dong" (A24 / GrandSon) Nominated 49
Humanitas Prize September 9, 2026 Comedy Feature Will McCormack and Rashida Jones Pending 50
References

References

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External links