The sexy tennis drama Challengers won the box office this weekend with $15 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Zendaya and castmates Mike Feist and Josh O’Connor have gone on a globetrotting press tour to spread the word about Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s original film, which has screened at 3,477 locations in the US and Canada. (Also Read: Tom Holland supports girlfriend Zendaya’s new film Challengers; see his sweet post)
“We’re obviously very pleased with the numbers,” said Kevin Wilson, head of theatrical distribution for Amazon Studios and MGM. “Seeing the audience that came, it’s really encouraging. Bringing audiences to theaters is not the easiest task.”
58% of ticket buyers were women, with the overall age range also being low: 41% were between 18 and 24 years old.
Ticket sales from large format screens, including IMAX, accounted for about 40% of the opening weekend’s earnings. According to a posttrack exit poll reported by Deadline, 55% of audiences said they went to see the film because of Zendaya. In fact, this weekend, with the re-release of Dune: Part Two in IMAX, Zendaya films accounted for about 26% of the total box office, earning almost $2 million.
The 27-year-old actor has been a part of some of the most successful franchises of the last few years, including the Spider-Man and Dune movies. In both cases, they were largely supporting roles in brand-name properties, but their striking red-carpet looks also often made headlines. The Challengers would be the first real test of their ability to “open” a movie on their own star and MGM and Amazon were not going to risk doing it without them.
The studio originally planned to release Challengers in late 2023, with a picturesque launch at the Venice Film Festival. But when the actors went on strike last July, the studio decided to cancel the festival premiere and move the film to this weekend, when they could safely assume the strike would be resolved. Zendaya sported several tennis-themed looks styled by Law Roach for her appearance.
Wilson said, “It would be hard to argue that we should have released this film when it wasn’t able to be supported.” She gave special credit to the studio’s promotion and marketing teams for organizing the world tour, which resulted in several viral fashion moments.
Reviews have been largely positive for the R-rated film, which depicts an exciting and competitive love triangle between tennis players. It currently holds an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and has received a B CinemaScore from first-day audiences.
Guadagnino’s last film, Bones and All, starring Zendaya’s Dune co-star Timothée Chalamet, made $15.2 million over its entire run. By midweek, Challengers is expected to surpass Call Me By Your Name ($18 million) to become Guadagnino’s highest-grossing film.
For Amazon MGM Studios, the value also extends beyond the box office driving “downstream value” for Amazon, with challengers eventually making their way to Prime Video.
Wilson said, “I’ve always believed that theater is the best way to launch some of these movies.” “When this thing reaches Prime Video, it’s obviously going to perform at a level that will be much higher than going straight to the platform. Theatrics are just a part of it.”
