Magnolia Pictures has picked up the U.S. rights to Gregg Araki‘s I Want Your Sex, which stars Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman.
Magnolia said it prevailed with a competitive seven-figure price tag for the 12th film from the New Queer Cinema pioneer. The specialty distributor is planning a major theatrical release in 2026.
“I Want Your Sex is a wild romp that represents all the reasons we love going to the movies. As huge fans of Gregg Araki, we’re thrilled to unleash his widest theatrical release yet and Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman’s insanely great performances on the masses,” Magnolia co-CEOs Eamonn Bowles and Dori Begley said in a statement.
I Want Your Sex has Wilde starring as Erika Tracy, an artist and provocateur who taps Elliot (Hoffman) for a job and to be her sexual partner, after which he quickly finds himself in over his head.
A synopsis from Magnolia continues: “When Erika breaks down office boundaries and takes Elliot on as her sexual muse and subordinate, their sexually charged relationship makes him question his own desires, boundaries, and relationships with his uptight girlfriend (Charli XCX) and repressed roommate (Chase Sui Wonders). As the stakes heighten and power dynamics shift, the film mixes satire, romantic comedy, mystery, and murder through the colorful and edgy visual language for which Araki is best known.”
Mason Gooding, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho, Roxane Mesquida and Daveed Diggs also star. After being a festival regular for decades, premiering ten projects like Mysterious Skin and Doom Generation in Park City, director Araki returned to Sundance with his latest movie and for its final year in Utah.
“I am over the moon and so grateful for the incredible reception at Sundance and Magnolia’s unadulterated passion for I Want Your Sex. This has been a pure labor of love from day one and everyone at Magnolia is as pumped and excited as I am to get the film out there for audiences across the country to enjoy, react to and talk about,” Araki said in his own statement.
Black Bear produced I Want Your Sex in association with Desperate Pictures. Araki directed the movie from a script he co-wrote with Karley Sciortino. The producer credits are shared by Araki, Seth Caplan, Teddy Schwarzman, Michael Heimler, Courtney L. Cunniff, Sciortino, Beau J. Genot, Ezra Venetos and Tom Lee. Executive producers are Joanne Roberts Wiles, John Friedberg and Andrew Golov.
Black Bear, which financed I Want Your Sex, is also handling international sales. The U.S. distribution deal was negotiated by Magnolia senior vp of acquisitions John Von Thaden and vp of acquisitions Miranda Hill, with CAA Media Finance negotiating for the filmmaker.
