The launch of Zendaya’s new tennis movie “Challengers” was postponed from September 2023 until April 26, 2024, because the film won’t be able to be promoted the way it was planned as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
“This means Zendaya, O’Connor and Faist would not have been able to launch the film on Aug. 30 on the Venice red carpet,” Variety notes.
Challengers was initially set to be released in theatres on September 15th, as Zendaya was also keen to announce.
Is Challengers for your taste
“Challengers” is a movie directed by Luca Guadagnino that stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist as the main three characters. Per IMDB (spoiler alert), Challengers “follows three players who knew each other when they were teenagers as they compete in a tennis tournament to be the world-famous grand slam winner, and reignite old rivalries on and off the court. The story follows Tashi, a tennis player-turned-coach who has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him from a mediocre player into a world-famous Grand Slam champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a “Challenger” event — close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour — where he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick: his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.”
According to the film’s director Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya’s performance in the movie is fabulous.
“She’s wonderful,” Guadagnino told Variety Saturday night at the Academy Museum Gala per Variety.“I mean, wow. We edited the movie and we almost actually don’t use any of her double. She’s so good.”
Related: Dimitrov, Vekic rumored as inspiration for Zendaya-starred Challengers movie.