‘The Invite’ Will Receive Palm Springs’ Vanguard Award

The Invite will receive the Vanguard Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, giving Olivia Wilde’s ensemble comedy an early place in the 2027 awards-season conversation. Wilde and co-stars Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton are scheduled to accept the honor on January 7.

An award for the full ensemble

The Vanguard Award recognizes the collective work of a film’s director and cast rather than a single performance. That makes it a particularly direct match for The Invite, a chamber comedy built around four actors and the shifting dynamics between two married couples.

Wilde directs and plays one half of a strained couple opposite Rogen. Their characters invite neighboring partners, played by Cruz and Norton, to dinner in a San Francisco apartment. As the evening develops, the gathering exposes disagreements, desires and uncomfortable questions about intimacy and marriage.

The film was written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones and adapted from the 2020 Spanish movie The People Upstairs. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where A24 acquired its domestic distribution rights. After arriving in theaters during the summer, it earned more than $60 million worldwide, a strong result for a dialogue-driven independent comedy.

A growing awards profile

The Palm Springs recognition follows four Gotham Award nominations for the film. Those nominations include Best Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay and an Outstanding Supporting Performance mention for Cruz, expanding the project’s momentum beyond its commercial reception.

Palm Springs has previously given the Vanguard Award to ensembles behind films including Hamnet, Belfast, La La Land, Green Book and The Shape of Water. The honor does not predict later results by itself, but its history gives the ceremony a visible role near the start of the new year’s awards calendar.

The Film Awards ceremony will open the Palm Springs festival on January 7, 2027. The festival is scheduled to continue through January 18, bringing the cast together again as the movie moves from a Sundance discovery and summer success into its next awards-season chapter.