Challengers is a 2024 American romantic sports drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes.

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.

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.

They watch Tashi Duncan, a rising star, win the girls’ junior singles final, and both Patrick and Art become infatuated with her.

Tashi enters Art as a wild card in a Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York, hoping to boost his confidence and return him to form.

Starting at opposite ends of the seeding, Art and Patrick advance through the brackets until they find themselves facing each other in the final.

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.

"[9] In a 2022 interview with Collider, Guadagnino cited Kuritzkes' screenplay, Pascal, and Zendaya as inspirations for making the film.

[11] 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.

"[9] In early 2022, MGM'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 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 completed its acquisition of MGM, it latter inherited the films, and Zendaya gained a $10 million paycheck as both star and producer.

[12] Pascal's first choice to play Tashi was Zendaya, whom she knew from working on several Spider-Man films with, and passed her the script.

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.

[6][14] Principal photography began on May 3, 2022, in Boston, where a casting call took place for local residents to audition to play tennis players, general extras, and stand-ins.

[15] In preparation for their roles, Zendaya, Faist, and O'Connor spent three months training with pro-tennis player-turned-coach Brad Gilbert.

[22] Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the film's score, having previously worked with Guadagnino on 2022's Bones and All.

[4][3] 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.

[40] It went on to debut to $15 million, topping the box office and marking the best domestic opening weekend of Guadagnino's career.

[41] In its second weekend the film made $7.9 million (a drop of 49%), finishing third behind newcomer The Fall Guy and the re-release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

The website's consensus reads: "With its trio of outstanding performers volleying their star power back and forth without ever dropping the ball, Challengers is a kinetic and sexy romp at court.

"[44] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 64 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

"[46] Filmmakers Edward Berger, Kelly Fremon Craig, Lena Dunham, Hannah Fidell, Parker Finn, Chad Hartigan, Matt Johnson, Karyn Kusama, David Lowery, JT Mollner, Lance Oppenheim, Daniel Scheinert, Celine Song and Nicholas Stoller also praised the film.