‘Challengers’: The Release Date, New Details & Everything Else To Know About Zendaya’s Movie

View gallery

The merchandise day for Challengers has been pushed to April 2024. Zendaya stars alongside Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. Luca Guadagnino directed Challengers.

Zendaya is officially taking implicit cinemas — successful 2024! She’ll beryllium coming retired swinging with Challengers, a caller dramedy acceptable successful the satellite of tennis. The hold for Challengers is going to beryllium a spot longer than we thought. In a new interview, Zendaya talks astir playing the “messy and conflicted” Tashi.

Zendaya has 2 very handsome and talented co-stars successful Challengers. Get acceptable for 1 steamy emotion triangle! From the formed to the caller merchandise day to what the movie is each about, HollywoodLife has rounded up each the latest updates astir the Challengers movie.

Zendaya arsenic Tashi successful ‘Challengers.’ (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)

Challengers Release Date

Challengers volition present beryllium hitting theaters connected April 26, 2024. That’s rather the propulsion from the erstwhile September 15, 2023, merchandise date. The movie’s archetypal merchandise day was August 11, 2023, but it was aboriginal moved to the September date.

Challengers was acceptable to premiere astatine the 2023 Venice Film Festival. The movie has pulled retired of the opening nighttime diagnostic astatine the Venice Film Festival, which is held from August 30 to September 9, owed to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The onslaught prevents stars similar Zendaya from promoting the film.

The movie volition beryllium released exclusively successful theaters. A streaming merchandise day has not been revealed yet. Challengers is rated R for connection throughout, immoderate intersexual content, and graphic nudity.

Challengers Cast

Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O’Connor successful ‘Challengers.’ (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)

Challengers features a talented trio of actors: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. Zendaya stars arsenic Tashi Duncan, a tennis phenom turned coach. Zendaya has go a 2-time Emmy victor for her relation arsenic Rue successful HBO’s Euphoria. In summation to Challengers, Zendaya besides reprises her relation arsenic Chani successful Dune: Part Two.

Mike plays Art Duncan, Tashi’s husband. Tasha has go Art’s manager aft an wounded sidelined her. Mike is champion known for his relation arsenic Riff successful Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake. He besides originated the relation of Connor Murphy successful Dear Evan Hansen connected Broadway.

Josh stars arsenic Patrick, Tashi’s ex-boyfriend and Art’s erstwhile champion friend. The Emmy victor roseate to fame playing Prince Charles successful seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown.

The movie was directed and produced by Luca Guadagnino. The Oscar nominee is known for directing films similar Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, and Bones and All.

Luca Guadagnino connected the ‘Challengers’ set. (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)

“She’s wonderful,” Luca said astir Zendaya successful an interrogation with Variety. “I mean, wow. We edited the movie and we astir really don’t usage immoderate of her double. She’s truthful good.” The manager besides noted that his leads “spent similar 3 months moving precise hard. Everybody – technically, athletically.” The movie was chiefly filmed successful Boston.

Despite her training, Zendaya admitted successful her ELLE September 2023 screen communicative that she was “terrified” of having to “pretend to bash tennis successful beforehand of a camera with an audience. She added, “And I was not adjacent utilizing a existent ball… I’m conscionable doing the signifier and footwork and getting my plaything close and doing it successful beforehand of a full clump of radical arsenic if it’s the US Open, and I’m terrified.”

Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya’s Dune: Part Two co-star, saw an aboriginal chopped of the movie successful 2022. “Loved it,” the histrion told Variety astir his absorption to the film. Timothée antecedently worked with Luca connected Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All.

What Will Challengers Be About?

The authoritative synopsis from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Challengers reads: “From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya arsenic Tashi Duncan, a erstwhile tennis prodigy turned manager and a unit of quality who makes nary apologies for her crippled connected and disconnected the court. Married to a champion connected a losing streak, Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a astonishing crook erstwhile helium indispensable look disconnected against the washed-up Patrick – his erstwhile champion person and Tashi’s erstwhile boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions tally high, Tashi indispensable inquire herself, what volition it outgo to win.”

Zendaya besides opened up to ELLE astir however the relation of Tashi is antithetic from immoderate quality she’s ever played before. “I felt similar it was a bully measurement into a more, I conjecture you could say, ‘grown-up’ relation and into that adjacent phase,” Zendaya said successful an interrogation conducted anterior to the SAG-AFTRA strike. “It was a small spot scary to instrumentality on, which I deliberation is simply a bully feeling. To beryllium like, ‘Ooh, tin I bash this?’ You could tally from that feeling and enactment harmless and comfortable, oregon you tin go, ‘You cognize what, f**k it.'”

Tashi is simply a analyzable woman, and Zendaya had to dive heavy into the character’s roots to get a consciousness of who she was playing. “I inactive don’t recognize the decisions she makes, and we had truthful galore conversations astir the science of her and wherefore she is that way,” the histrion continued. “What was important to maine was that she was unapologetic astir it. Sometimes characters who are messy and conflicted and wield powerfulness implicit different radical are reserved for [actors] who don’t look similar me, truthful erstwhile I get an accidental to play a quality similar that, I’ma instrumentality it!”

For Josh O’Connor’s VMAN profile, Zendaya told the histrion that he’s thing similar his character.  “Our characters are horrific,” Josh told Zendaya. “We are each the puppet masters astatine antithetic moments.” Zendaya added that “there’s a villain-esque prime determination to each of the characters.”

The film’s manager antecedently revealed to IndieWire that Challengers is simply a “completely antithetic film” from his past task Bones and All. He called Challengers a “fairly fizzy, sexy movie astir the satellite of tennis.”

Zendaya astatine CinemaCon successful April 2023. (Rob Latour/Shutterstock)

He besides noted, “I deliberation those 3 characters successful that movie are beautifully analyzable and truly f***ed-up radical that I emotion precise much. And a sports film, wherefore not? It’s hyperkinetic, and I bash films, truthful it’s great.”

Challengers Trailer

The first trailer for Challengers dropped connected June 20. The footage — acceptable to Rihanna’s “S&M” — gives a glimpse of Tashi, Art, and Patrick’s lives successful some the past and contiguous day. The trailer chronicles Tashi and Art’s travel to facing disconnected against Patrick, Tashi’s erstwhile lover, connected the tennis court.

The emotion triangle heats betwixt Art, Tashi, and Patrick. During their younger years, there’s a infinitesimal erstwhile Tashi is enjoying some Art and Patrick kissing her. Just 3 days aft the trailer’s release, the authoritative trailer had amassed astir 6 cardinal views (and counting!) connected YouTube.