Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, “Challengers,” is being hailed for its performance and premise. While the critical response to “Challengers” is positive so far, its box office reception is impressive as well. In an interesting turn, the film has even surpassed Guadagnino’s previous film, “Call Me By Your Name.” On Tuesday, it was overtaken by “Challengers,” which has now become the director’s top-grossing film ever. Not only this, but the film has also become the top-grossing tennis movie of all time.
“Challengers” is a romantic sports drama film set in the world of tennis. A few days ago, it delivered a strong opening weekend haul. On Tuesday, it added $2.6 million domestically, taking its running total to $19 million.
Meanwhile, the 2017 film “Call Me By Your Name” grossed $18 million domestically, making Challengers the winner.
“Call Me By Your Name” is a coming-of-age romantic drama film based on the 2007 novel of the same title by André Aciman. The screenplay of the film is penned by legendary James Ivory, who also won the Oscars Award in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Apart from that, the film earned four nominations at the 90th Academy Awards. Starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie as a couple of young men caught in a whirlwind summer romance in Italy.
While the film was critics’ favorite and garnered several awards and nominations, Guadagnino’s other film, “Challengers,” is also being touted as an awards favorite. It follows a professional tennis champion (Mike Faist) who plots a comeback with the help of his wife (Zendaya), a former tennis prodigy who retired after an injury, as he goes up against another player (Josh O’Connor), who also happens to be his former best friend and wife’s former lover.
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Given the film’s current box office performance, it can be said that it will overtake Call Me By Your Name’s lifetime global haul of $41 million in the next few days.
Challengers give an impressive reception at the box office
As mentioned above, Challengers’ domestic collection so far is $19 million, which puts the film ahead of other tennis movies such as 2004’s Wimbledon, which grossed $16 million, “King Richard,” released in 2021, which earned $15 million, and 2017’s Battle of the Sexes box office haul was $12 million. However, Woody Allen’s Match Point grossed slightly higher as compared to the rest, as its domestic collection was $23 million.
As for Guadagnino, “Challengers” serves as a milestone in his directorial career. The film is now his highest-grossing film domestically, and it had the biggest budget he’s ever worked with. The film cost a reported $55 million to produce and has so far generated nearly $30 million worldwide.
Apart from its impressive box office collection both domestically and globally, the film earned praise from the critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it scored an average rating of 8/10. 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.”
“Challengers” marked its release on April 26, 2024, and is successfully running in theaters.
