''Challengers'' is a 2024 American
romantic sports film
A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. D ...
directed by
Luca Guadagnino
Luca Guadagnino (; born 10 August 1971) is an Italian film director and producer. His films are characterized by their emotional complexity, eroticism, and lavish visuals. Guadagnino has received numerous accolades, including a Silver Lion, alon ...
and written by
Justin Kuritzkes. It follows the
love triangle
A love triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with someone is simultaneo ...
between an injured tennis star-turned-coach (
Zendaya
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. List of awards and nominations received by Zendaya, Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award. I ...
), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend (
Josh O'Connor
Joshua O'Connor (born 20 May 1990) is a British actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three BAFTA Awards.
After training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, O'Connor had supportin ...
), and her tennis champion husband (
Mike Faist) across 13 years of their relationship, culminating in the match between the two men on the
ATP Challenger Tour
The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
.
Kuritzkes' screenplay was acquired by
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
in February 2022, with the main cast and Guadagnino being hired shortly after; Zendaya, O'Connor, and Faist trained for months with former tennis player and coach
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert (born August 9, 1961) is an American former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tennis commentator and analyst for ESPN. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 ...
to prepare for their roles.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
ran from May to June 2022, primarily in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
.
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who previously worked with Guadagnino on ''
Call Me by Your Name'' (2017) and ''
Suspiria
''Suspiria'' is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay '' Suspiria de Profundis''. The film stars Jessica Harper ...
'' (2018), served as cinematographer.
Delayed from an initial September 2023 release in response to the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Pro ...
, ''Challengers'' premiered in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
on March 26, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States by
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...
one month later. The film grossed $96 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics. Among its accolades were four nominations at the
82nd Golden Globe Awards (including
Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy), where it won
Best Original Score.
Plot
In 2006, best friends Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson win the boys' junior doubles title at the
US Open. They watch Tashi Duncan, a rising star, win the girls’ junior singles final, and both Patrick and Art become infatuated with her. After meeting at a party, Tashi joins Art and Patrick in their hotel room, where all three kiss before Tashi abruptly ends the tryst. She promises to give her phone number to whoever wins the boys’ singles final the next day. When Art asks what she wants out of the match, she states she’d want “to watch some good fucking tennis.” 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
tell of Art's.
In 2007, Tashi and Art play college tennis at
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, while Patrick turns professional and begins a long-distance relationship with Tashi. Art suggests to Tashi that Patrick does not love her. When Patrick visits Stanford, Art similarly suggests to him that Tashi does not take the relationship seriously. Tashi and Patrick have an argument over her attempts to coach Patrick in tennis, and Patrick skips her match as a result; while playing, Tashi is distracted and tears her
ACL. Patrick comes to see Tashi, but Tashi angrily demands he leave. Art sides with her, ending his friendship with Patrick. Art aids in Tashi's recovery, but her injury ends her tennis career.
In 2009, Tashi reconnects with Art, now a professional player, and becomes his coach and girlfriend. 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 notices.
In 2019, Tashi and Art are a wealthy power couple with a young daughter. Art is only one US Open title away from a
Career Grand Slam, but has been struggling due to injury and age. Tashi enters Art as a
wild card in a
Challenger event in
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...
, hoping to boost his confidence and return him to form. Patrick, who is living out of his car and scraping by on winnings from the lower circuits, happens to enter the New Rochelle Challenger as well.
Sensing Art's disillusionment, Patrick asks Tashi to coach him to a last winning season. She refuses, but keeps the slip of paper with his phone number on it. 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 final match, Patrick attempts to reconnect with Art, but Art rebuffs him.
The evening before the final, Art tells Tashi he plans to retire at the end of the season whether he wins the Open or not. Tashi is unhappy, but reluctantly accepts Art's decision. That night, Tashi secretly meets with Patrick to ask him to throw the match to Art, claiming it is to boost his confidence and to save their marriage. Patrick is disgusted but then agrees, and he and Tashi have a passionate argument before having sex inside his car.
The day of the final, Tashi watches as Art and Patrick play. Patrick wins the first set, and Art the second. Although the match remains close, Art reaches a match point. Patrick signals that he has slept with Tashi using Art's serve tell, which Tashi cannot decode. Stunned, Art allows Patrick to score to bring the match to a final tie break.
During the tie break, Art and Patrick furiously trade groundstrokes, both reminded of their passion for the sport. The
rally
Rally or rallye may refer to:
Gatherings
* Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade
* Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event
Sport ...
intensifies and Art jumps for a
volley at the net. As Art lunges for a final shot, he collides with Patrick over the net and the two embrace. Tashi leaps from her seat and yells, “Come on!”
Cast
Production
Development
Writer
Justin Kuritzkes was inspired to make a tennis film after watching the
2018 U.S. Open match between
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
and
Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...
, in which Williams was penalized for receiving coaching from the sidelines. He had never heard of the rule and thought the fact that the player could not talk with such an important figure during the match seemed cinematic. He observed, "What if you really had to talk about something important that went beyond tennis? Something going on with you personally?" While doing research for the script, he read
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
's memoir ''
Open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979
* ''Open'' (Go ...
'', in which Agassi recounts how his then-coach
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert (born August 9, 1961) is an American former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tennis commentator and analyst for ESPN. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 ...
entered him into a
Challenger event in Nevada. This served as inspiration for Art's arc in the film.
Kuritzkes also knew what the characters' origins were while writing: "Tashi was always a
Black woman. Patrick was always a very well-to-do
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
guy, and Art was always a somewhat well-to-do
WASP
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...
." He thought that a story about tennis with no Black characters would be weird because "that is the story of American women's tennis, if you look at all of the big superstars from the past decade".
The script landed on
The Black List, an annual list of the best unproduced scripts in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
, in December 2021. That same year, producing partners
Amy Pascal and Rachel O'Connor read the script. Pascal had been wanting to work with director
Luca Guadagnino
Luca Guadagnino (; born 10 August 1971) is an Italian film director and producer. His films are characterized by their emotional complexity, eroticism, and lavish visuals. Guadagnino has received numerous accolades, including a Silver Lion, alon ...
for a long time, and sent him the script while he was filming the short film ''O Night Divine'' starring
John C. Reilly. Guadagnino recalled, "I had the script on set, hiding myself from John C., not showing him that I was reading while I was directing. Anyway, I found it amazing."
In a 2022 interview with ''
Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
'', Guadagnino cited Kuritzkes' screenplay, Pascal, and
Zendaya
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. List of awards and nominations received by Zendaya, Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award. I ...
as inspirations for making the film. At the behest of Guadagnino, Kuritzkes modified the script to add a scene where Patrick and Art end up kissing each other: "Luca felt it was very important that, in any love triangle, all the corners touch, and I quickly realized he meant it literally."
In early 2022,
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
's then-chairman Kevin Ulrich met with Guadagnino to discuss distributing the independently financed ''
Bones and All''. During the meeting, Guadagnino told Ulrich he was also in the midst of developing a "sexy tennis story starring Zendaya". Ulrich contacted
Michael De Luca
Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. He is also the former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks. De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Aw ...
and
Pamela Abdy, the then-heads of MGM, and they negotiated a two-picture deal over the next 24 hours to pick up both films. When
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
completed its acquisition of MGM, it latter inherited the films, and Zendaya gained a $10 million paycheck as both star and producer.
In February 2022, the film was announced with Zendaya,
Josh O'Connor
Joshua O'Connor (born 20 May 1990) is a British actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for three BAFTA Awards.
After training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, O'Connor had supportin ...
, and
Mike Faist set to star.
Casting
Pascal's first choice to play Tashi was Zendaya, whom she knew from working on several
Spider-Man films
Spider-Man has appeared in film since the Spider-Man (1977 film), 1977 made-for-television movie broadcast on CBS. The motion picture rights to Spider-Man belonged to Marvel Entertainment until 1999, when Sony Pictures bought them for $7 millio ...
with, and passed her the script. Zendaya accepted the role, as it would be a departure from the teenagers she was used to portraying, and she felt it was the right time to move into more adult roles: "It was nice to play a character that was not a child anymore. It was also interesting playing parts of my life that I haven't experienced yet: I've not gotten married. I've not had a child. Those milestones, I don't necessarily have a direct reference point for."
Guadagnino suggested Josh O'Connor should play the cocky Patrick. For the role of Art, Guadagnino considered ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...
'' star Mike Faist, whose agent insisted he read the script; Faist then agreed to travel to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
for a
screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. It is typically a secondary or later stage in the audition process. The performer is generally given a scene, or sel ...
with Zendaya. He later said, "I thought, 'Why not? If I don't get the job, I got a trip out of it.'" He thought that the audition had gone badly, but Guadagnino loved his interpretation of the character. Faist said that Guadagnino's main preoccupations were that he was blond and that his body should be hairless. Faist was put off by the idea of shaving his body, but Guadagnino felt that he needed to be "aerodynamic" as an athlete.
Zendaya stated that herself, Faist and O'Connor had a
group chat where she was the "mom" of the group and that both actors made her "feel safe and supported as a scene partner".
Zendaya's best friend and personal assistant Darnell Appling portrayed the umpire at the
New Rochelle
New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...
Final. Guadagnino wanted him to sit on the umpire chair during a camera test; he thought he would just be acting as a stand-in, as he had done previously in other Zendaya projects. Guadagnino instead asked him to play the part, which he accepted with Zendaya's blessing. To prepare for the role, Guadagnino asked Appling to attend umpire school. Appling spent three weeks filming his role.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
began on May 3, 2022, in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, where a casting call took place for local residents to audition to play tennis players, general extras, and stand-ins. In preparation for their roles, Zendaya, Faist, and O'Connor spent three months training with pro-tennis player-turned-coach
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert (born August 9, 1961) is an American former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tennis commentator and analyst for ESPN. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 ...
.
Faist had to gain 30 pounds for the film. Gilbert, who was also a consultant on the film, said: "Mike had to eat between 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day because they wanted him to gain weight. He was super thin. He had to work on his tennis and gain like 30 pounds. I had Zendaya in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, so we got her on a program right away, and Josh was working, so
aisthad the latest start." During training, the actors started at 6 a.m., were at the tennis center until noon, and then would act in the afternoon. Filming occurred in and around the
Back Bay
Back Bay is an officially recognized Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...
and
East Boston
East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...
neighborhoods.
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom served as cinematographer. Irish fashion designer
Jonathan Anderson, who at the time served as creative director of Spanish luxury brand
Loewe, worked as the film's costume designer. Filming
wrapped on June 26, 2022.
Post-production
Guadagnino visited Zendaya on the set of ''
Dune: Part Two'' in order to complete
ADR for ''Challengers''.
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...
and
Atticus Ross
Atticus Matthew Cowper Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and audio engineer. He is best known for his work with American musician Trent Reznor, with whom he first worked on the musical project Tapewo ...
composed the film's score, having previously worked with Guadagnino on 2022's ''
Bones and All''. Guadagnino approached them to score ''Challengers'' by sending them an email that read, "Do you want to be on my next film? It's going to be super sexy."
Post-production
Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...
was completed by April 2023.
Music
The film's original score was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. A remixed version was released in collaboration with
Boys Noize
Alexander Ridha (born 22 August 1982), better known by his stage name Boys Noize, is a German-Iraqi electronic music record producer, songwriter and DJ known for collaborations with artists including A$AP Rocky, Tommy Cash, and Frank Ocean (for ...
.
Release
The film was previously set to be released on September 15, 2023,
and before that August 11, 2023. The film was also scheduled to have its world premiere as the opening film of the
80th Venice International Film Festival, but was delayed and pulled out from the festival by
Amazon MGM Studios
Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...
due to the
2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Pro ...
at the time.
''Challengers'' premiered in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia on March 26, 2024, followed by premieres in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, London and at the
Westwood Village Theater in Los Angeles, the latter of which had tennis player
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
in attendance.
Theatrical
It was released in theaters and
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...
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.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...
serves as the film's international distributor. Although the film was initially set for a
direct-to-streaming release on
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
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, 2 days before its release in the United States, although a spokesperson for
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Outline of entertainment, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It was formed from WarnerMedi ...
initially denied this, stating the film had not been dated for a French theatrical release yet.
Home media
The film was made available on
VOD on May 17, 2024. It was released on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on July 9, 2024.
Reception
Box office
''Challengers'' grossed $50.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $45.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $96 million.
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.
The film made $6.2 million on its first day, including $1.9 million in Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $15 million, topping the box office and marking the best domestic opening weekend of Guadagnino's career.
In its second weekend the film made $7.9 million (a drop of 49%), finishing third behind newcomer ''
The Fall Guy
''The Fall Guy'' is an American action-adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It stars Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonl ...
'' and the re-release of ''
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace''. It then made $4.4 million in its third weekend.
Critical response
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by
PostTrak
PostTrak is a U.S.-based service that surveys film audiences for film studios.
History
The service conducts surveys in the top 20 markets in the U.S. and Canada with the use of polling cards and electronic kiosks. A PostTrak report for a fil ...
gave it a 77% overall positive score, with 59% saying they would definitely recommend it.
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
included ''Challengers'' in its list of the best movies and TV of 2024, with critic
Linda Holmes
Linda Holmes (born March 16, 1959) is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 42nd District since January 2007. The 42nd district includes all or parts of Aurora, Boulder Hill, Montgomery, Naperville, North Aurora and ...
writing that "A pounding score, adventurous editing and one of the smartest weird endings in recent memory completes a movie not quite like any other."
Filmmakers
Edward Berger
Edward Berger (; born 1970) is a Swiss nationality , Swiss and Austrian nationality law, Austrian director and screenwriter. He is known for his work in Germany, where he was born and grew up, such as the German films ''Jack (2014 film), Jack'' ...
,
Kelly Fremon Craig
Kelly Fremon Craig (born May 28, 1980) is an American screenwriter, producer, and film director. She is known for writing and directing the 2016 coming-of-age dramedy ''The Edge of Seventeen'' and the 2023 adaptation of Judy Blume's classic mi ...
,
Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham (; born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series '' Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two G ...
,
Hannah Fidell,
Parker Finn,
Chad Hartigan,
Matt Johnson,
Karyn Kusama
Karyn Kiyoko Kusama (born March 21, 1968) is an American filmmaker. She made her feature directorial debut with the sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), for which she won Best Director and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival an ...
,
David Lowery,
JT Mollner,
Lance Oppenheim,
Rich Peppiatt,
Daniel Scheinert,
Celine Song,
Nicholas Stoller
Nicholas Stoller (born March 19, 1976) is a British-American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the comedy films ''Forgetting Sarah Marshall'' (2008), its spin-off/sequel ''Get Him to the Greek'' (2010), ''The Five-Year Engagement'' (2012) ...
and
Tyler Taormina also praised the film.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
{{Luca Guadagnino
2024 LGBTQ-related films
2024 romantic drama films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
2020s sports drama films
American LGBTQ-related films
American nonlinear narrative films
American romantic drama films
American sports drama films
Amazon MGM Studios films
Cultural depictions of tennis players
English-language romantic drama films
English-language sports drama films
Films about sports competitions
Films about infidelity
Films about sportspeople
Films affected by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
Films affected by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
Films directed by Luca Guadagnino
Films produced by Amy Pascal
Films produced by Luca Guadagnino
Films produced by Zendaya
Films scored by Atticus Ross
Films scored by Trent Reznor
Films set in 2006
Films set in 2007
Films set in 2010
Films set in 2011
Films set in 2019
Films set in Atlanta
Films set in Queens, New York
Films set in Stanford University
Films set in Westchester County, New York
Films shot in Boston
Films with screenplays by Justin Kuritzkes
Frenesy Film Company films
IMAX films
LGBTQ-related romantic drama films
LGBTQ-related sports drama films
Films about male bisexuality
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Tennis films
Warner Bros. films