Challengers
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2h 11m
Challengers is a 2024 American romantic sports film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. It follows the love triangle between an injured tennis star-turned-coach (Zendaya), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend (Josh O'Connor), and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist) across 13 years of their relationship, culminating in the latter two's match on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Kuritzkes' screenplay was acquired by MGM 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 to prepare for their roles. Principal photography ran from May to June 2022, primarily 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 2023 SAG-AFTRA 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 grossed $100 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics.
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