Challengers | September 15, 2023 | MGM | Zendaya | Luca Guadagnino to Direct

[Box Office Hit]

 

Edited March 19 by Box Office Hit

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

Guadagnino *and* a tennis movie? Definitely watching it, but RIP the box office...

 

[Box Office Hit]

 

[snarkmachine]

This is a very odd release date. They're not doing festivals?

[1Robert1]

it will bomb in box office so i dont get it why they want pay zendaya more than 10 mln...

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

On 6/16/2022 at 3:22 AM, snarkmachine said:

This is a very odd release date. They're not doing festivals?

It's a tennis movie, it needs all those people interested to pay for a ticket, instead of seeing it at a festival and not contributing to the box office. 

 

[Verrows]

As a tennis player and fan, YES YES YES! I'm there!

 

It may not interest many and bomb, but I really applaud the studio for trying. That's all I ask.

[filmlover]

Quietly pushed to September 15.

 

 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

17 hours ago, filmlover said:

Quietly pushed to September 15.

 

 

This movie will make up like 40 percent of the US Open's TV ads with Zendaya and the cast showing up to multiple days of play.

[Last Man Standing]

On 3/19/2023 at 1:57 AM, filmlover said:

Quietly pushed to September 15.

 

 

I'm happy it's hitting theaters, there's was talk about it being a streaming release early on.

[movies!movies!]

 

[filmlover]

10 hours ago, movies!movies! said:

 

I'm sure Twitter is already full of speculation over who is delivering the "graphic nudity" in this. 

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

I'm sure Twitter is already full of speculation over who is delivering the "graphic nudity" in this. 

 

Yup:

 

 

A very R-rated tennis movie: hoping for the best but the box office is going to be so bad...

Edited April 19 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[Last Man Standing]

12 hours ago, movies!movies! said:

 

Guadagnino does not give a shit about mainstream success and I respect him so much for it.

[AniNate]

I think this could be a bigger success than people think. Zendaya is kind of making a name for herself and the market has been starved of real erotic cinema for awhile, and tennis really isn't that niche. They seem to be going for a Don't Worry Darling strategy here now, though hopefully this is a hit more because of innate artistic quality than offscreen scandals sparking morbid curiosity. 

 

Edited April 22 by AniNate

[Last Man Standing]

1 hour ago, AniNate said:

I think this could be a bigger success than people think. Zendaya is kind of making a name for herself and the market has been starved of real erotic cinema for awhile, and tennis really isn't that niche. They seem to be going for a Don't Worry Darling strategy here now, though hopefully this is a hit more because of innate artistic quality than offscreen scandals sparking morbid curiosity. 

 

It definitely has potential, but I'm not sure the romcom crowd is really looking for R-rated movies.

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

4 hours ago, AniNate said:

I think this could be a bigger success than people think. Zendaya is kind of making a name for herself and the market has been starved of real erotic cinema for awhile, and tennis really isn't that niche. They seem to be going for a Don't Worry Darling strategy here now, though hopefully this is a hit more because of innate artistic quality than offscreen scandals sparking morbid curiosity. 

 

Tennis as a sport has been around for eons but in film hardly ever performs well. From this list of tennis movies (a whopping 36, which includes documentaries, made-for-TV movies, short films, even a lost one from 1929), the box office champ seems to Match Point ($23m domestic, $85m worldwide, but in 2005-6 currency). Adjusted for inflation, probably Strangers on a Train, which isn't really a "world of tennis" movie. Maybe King Richard would have done better without day-and-date, but given how it's gone with most tennis movies, still probably not a hit.

 

Challengers could be fine because it's not going for the mainstream "sports movie" audience at all, but Film Twitter enthusiasm has had a way of not translating to broader success.

 

 

Edited April 23 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[joselowe]

No trailer or anything. I wonder if it's because the studio is trying to apparently push Zendaya for Best Actress at the Osvars

[Valonqar]

That has nothing to do with trailer release schedule. Also, it's MGM meaning Amazon. Maybe Amazon is mulling over streaming release. They only need a short qualifying theatrical run for awards.

 

this will be a real test for Z's star power cause it isn't a franchise, her co-stars are literal who's to GA so it's her name that sells the ticket, the director never had a boxoffice hit (too arthouse) and tennis hasn't been big at the boxoffice even with Will Smith. 

Edited June 3 by Valonqar

[joselowe]

1 hour ago, Valonqar said:

That has nothing to do with trailer release schedule. Also, it's MGM meaning Amazon. Maybe Amazon is mulling over streaming release. They only need a short qualifying theatrical run for awards.

 

this will be a real test for Z's star power cause it isn't a franchise, her co-stars are literal who's to GA so it's her name that sells the ticket, the director never had a boxoffice hit (too arthouse) and tennis hasn't been big at the boxoffice even with Will Smith. 

Agree, but Amy Pascal is behind this and she doesn't usually let the films she produces go straight to streaming. They are premiering this at Venice in August. I think they learned their lesson with Zendaya streaming considering Malcolm and Marie flopped on streaming.