Luca Guadagnino‘s film Challengers has received positive feedback and hit the box office, grossing $15 million in their debut. Its a great way to kick off a film release, considering that the movie budget was $55 million. Globally, the movie earned $25 million. The results proved the movies’ home, Amazon MGM Studios, wrong as they thought that the film needed to be pushed more. Challengers stars Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.
About the theatrical feat, Kevin Wilson, Amazon Studio MGM’s theater distribution honcho released a statement via AP.
“We’re obviously very, very happy with the number. Looking at the audience who showed up, it’s really encouraging. It’s not the easiest audience to get to theaters.”
The romantic sports drama movie Challengers is about a professional tennis player named Art Donaldson and his wife Tashi Duncan who work together toward Art’s comeback into the sports scene. However, the person he’s playing against is Patrick Zweig, the former lover of his wife and his ex-best friend.
Typically drama movies that have an rated-R rating, do not perform well. But, there’s many platforms Challengers can benefit from.
Overall, it was intriguing to see it surpassed $15 million because it means there’s a chance for Challengers to become bigger. Besides, Amazon Studios has the budget to take a risk on this movie to see the end results.
Actors were in a challenging position since they couldn’t post the movie since SAG-AFTRA strikes were concurrent. The main attraction, Zendaya, is coming off the sci-fi blockbuster Dune 2. She will bring a lot of viewers once it expands on different platforms.
