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Challengers (film) - Wikipedia

Challengers (film) - Wikipedia

Challengers (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Challengers
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLuca Guadagnino
Written byJustin Kuritzkes
Produced by
Starring
CinematographySayombhu Mukdeeprom
Edited byMarco Costa
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • March 26, 2024 (Sydney)
  • April 26, 2024 (United States)
Running time
131 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$55 million[2]
Box office$78.5 million[3][4]

Challengers is a 2024 American romantic sports drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, and stars Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist. In the film, struggling former tennis champion Art Donaldson (Faist) plots a comeback with the help of his wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), and finds himself facing off against Patrick Zweig (O'Connor), his former best friend and Tashi's ex-boyfriend.

Kuritzkes' screenplay was acquired in February 2022, with Guadagnino and the main cast hired shortly thereafter: the leads trained for months with former tennis player and coach Brad Gilbert to prepare for their roles. Principal photography began that May and lasted until that June, with filming primarily taking place in Boston. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who previously worked with Guadagnino on Call Me by Your Name (2017) and Suspiria (2018), served as cinematographer.

Delayed from an initial September 2023 release in response to the actors' strike, Challengers premiered in Sydney on March 26, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States by Amazon MGM Studios one month later. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed over $78 million worldwide.

Plot[edit]

The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative. The following is a linear summary of the plot.

In 2006, high schoolers and childhood best friends Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson win the boys' junior doubles title at the US Open. Afterwards they meet Tashi Duncan, a highly lauded young tennis prospect to whom Patrick and Art are both attracted. The three meet in a hotel room. While talking, Tashi describes her passion for tennis and the relationship between players represented in their rally. In the ensuing encounter the two boys kiss both Tashi and each other, but Tashi ends the tryst before it escalates to sex. With Patrick and Art playing each other in the junior singles final the next day, Tashi says she will give her phone number to whoever wins. Patrick wins the match, and later signals to Art that he had sex with Tashi by placing the ball in the neck of his racket prior to serving, a tic of Art's.

Tashi and Art go on to play college tennis at Stanford University, while Patrick turns professional and begins a long-distance relationship with Tashi while on tour. Art privately suggests to Tashi that Patrick doesn't actually love her. When Patrick visits Stanford, Art similarly suggests to him that Tashi does not take the relationship seriously. Patrick sees that Art is jealous, and playfully teases him for trying to disrupt his relationship with Tashi. Later, Patrick and Tashi fight when she gives him unsolicited tennis advice during sex and he says he views her as a peer, not his coach. In the match immediately after, which Patrick skips due to the fight, Tashi suffers a severe knee injury. Patrick returns to comfort Tashi, but she furiously demands he leave, with Art taking her side. Art aids Tashi in her recovery, but she is unsuccessful in resuming her tennis career.

A few years later, in 2009, Tashi reconnects with Art and becomes his coach, with the two beginning a romantic relationship. He reveals that he and Patrick have not spoken since Tashi's injury. In 2011, Tashi and Art are now engaged, and Art's career is on the rise. Tashi and Patrick run into each other at the Atlanta Open and have a one-night stand, which Art secretly notices.

In 2019, now married, Tashi and Art are a wealthy power couple with a young daughter Lily. Under Tashi's coaching, Art has become a top professional tennis player. He is one US Open title away from a Career Grand Slam, though he has been struggling after recovering from an injury. Tashi enters Art as a wild card in a Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York, in the hope he can boost his confidence and return to form by beating lower-level opponents. Patrick, despite coming from an affluent family, is now an unknown player living out of his car, scraping by on winnings from the lower circuits, and happens to also enter the New Rochelle event.

Starting at opposite ends of the seeding, Art and Patrick advance through the brackets until they find themselves facing each other in the final. The day before the match, Patrick attempts to reconnect with Art, but Art rejects Patrick, saying that his career is over and Art will be remembered in tennis history.

Sensing that Tashi is unhappy with Art and that Art is tired of playing, Patrick secretly asks Tashi to coach him to one last winning season, but she rejects him. The night before the final, Art informs Tashi he plans to retire at the end of the season whether he wins the Open or not, despite knowing that Tashi is vicariously living her tennis career through him. She responds with silence, causing Art to beg for reassurance that she will still love him. She half-heartedly claims she accepts him quitting, but Art refuses to believe this. To motivate him, Tashi tells Art that if he loses to Patrick, she will leave him. Afterward, Tashi secretly meets with Patrick to ask him to throw the match to Art. Patrick reluctantly agrees. The two then have sex inside his car. When Tashi returns, Art is sleeping in their daughter's room, indicating that he knows Tashi snuck out.

The day of the final, Tashi watches from the crowd as Art and Patrick are matched. Patrick wins the first set, and Art wins the second. As Art takes the lead late in the final game, Patrick begins to throw the match through double faults. However, he stops short of losing and instead signals that he had slept with Tashi using Art's serve tic. Stunned, Art allows Patrick to score until they are again tied.

During the tie break, Art and Patrick furiously trade turns. The rally intensifies until both jump for a volley at the net. As Art begins to slam the ball, he collides with Patrick over the net and the two embrace tightly, while Tashi erupts from the stands, thrilled.[5]

Cast[edit]

  • Zendaya as Tashi Duncan[6]
  • Josh O'Connor as Patrick Zweig[6]
  • Mike Faist as Art Donaldson[6]
  • Darnell Appling as New Rochelle Final Umpire
  • Shane Harris as Andrew Art's Security
  • AJ Lister as Lily Donaldson
  • Nada Despotovich as Tashi's mother
  • Naheem Garcia as Tashi's father
  • Hailey Gates as Helen
  • Jake Jensen as Finn Larsen[7]

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

The script landed on The Black List, the annual list of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, in December 2021.[8] In February 2022, it was announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had landed the film, with Luca Guadagnino directing and Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist set to star. Zendaya also served as a producer on the film.[9] In a 2022 interview with Collider, Guadagnino cited Kuritzkes' screenplay, Amy Pascal, and Zendaya as inspirations for making the film.[10]

Filming[edit]

Principal photography began on May 3, 2022, in Boston, where a casting call took place for local residents to audition to play tennis players, general extras, and stand-ins.[11] In preparation for their roles, Zendaya, Faist, and O’Connor spent three months training with pro-tennis player-turned-coach Brad Gilbert.[12] Gilbert was also a consultant on the film. Filming occurred in and around the Back Bay and East Boston neighborhoods.[13] Sayombhu Mukdeeprom served as cinematographer.[14] Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Spanish luxury brand Loewe, served as costume designer.[15] Filming wrapped on June 26, 2022.[16]

Post-production[edit]

Guadagnino visited Zendaya on the set of Dune: Part Two in order to complete ADR for Challengers.[17] Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the film's score, having previously worked with Guadagnino on 2022's Bones and All.[18] Post-production was completed by April 2023.[19]

Music[edit]

Main article: Challengers (soundtrack)

The film's original score was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. A remixed version was released in collaboration with Boys Noize.[20]

Release[edit]

The film was previously set to be released on September 15, 2023,[21] and before that August 11, 2023.[22] The film was also scheduled to have its world premiere as the opening film of the 80th Venice International Film Festival,[23] but was delayed and pulled out from the festival by Amazon MGM Studios due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike at the time.[24]

Challengers premiered in Sydney, Australia on March 26, 2024, followed by premieres in Paris, London and at the Westwood Village Theater in Los Angeles, the latter of which had tennis player Venus Williams in attendance.[25]

Theatrical[edit]

It was released in theaters and IMAX in the United States and Canada by Amazon MGM Studios on April 26, 2024, the same month as the centennial anniversary of the founding of MGM on April 17.[26][24][27][28][29]

Warner Bros. Pictures serves as the film's international distributor.[30] Although the film was initially set for a direct-to-streaming release on Amazon Prime Video in France instead of a theatrical release, the decision was reversed in January 2024, meaning the film would start streaming on the service 17 months after its initial theatrical release. The film was released there on April 24, 2024, two days before its release in the United States, although a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discovery initially denied this, stating the film had not been dated for a French theatrical release yet.[31][32][4]

Home media[edit]

The film was made available on rental PVOD on May 17, 2024.[33]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

As of May 19, 2024, Challengers has grossed $43.4 million in the United States and Canada and $35.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $78.5 million.[4][3]

In the United States and Canada, Challengers was released alongside Boy Kills World and Unsung Hero, and was projected to gross $12–15 million from 3,477 theaters in its opening weekend.[34][2] The film made $6.2 million on its first day, including $1.9 million in Thursday night previews.[35] It went on to debut to $15 million, topping the box office and marking the best domestic opening weekend of Guadagnino's career and of Zendaya's for a non-IP film.[36] In its second weekend the film made $7.9 million (a drop of 49%), finishing second behind newcomer The Fall Guy and the re-release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.[37]

Critical response[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 319 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "With its trio of outstanding performers volleying their star power back and forth without ever dropping the ball, Challengers is a kinetic and sexy romp at court."[38] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[39] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 77% overall positive score, with 59% saying they would definitely recommend it.[36]

References[edit]

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  3. ^ Jump up to:a b "Challengers – Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
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  37. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 5, 2024). "'The Fall Guy' Tripping To $28M Opening – Sunday AM Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
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  39. ^ "Challengers". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved May 7, 2024.

External links[edit]

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