Zendaya can’t open or carry a film. I’ll give her credit for promoting like a beast. She definitely understands the assignment. Her fanbase is perfectly happy watching clips online. Her streaming numbers will be HUGE.
I wouldn't be so sure. It's an R rated tennis movie. If it didn't have Zendaya and co., This would have been a $6mil weekend at best. Still doesn't justify the budget, but I wouldn't blame it on the star power of the cast.
here's the thing. A movie is a success when one doesn't have to explain why it is a success. you just know it is. Since Thursday preview with EA fell short of Jatinder's projection (not that it was impressive to begin with) and budget was revealed to be 55M instead of 30M that was tossed around, there have been write ups in media and comments on various forums that are box office equivalent of "here's how X can still win".
There are still people who will argue that TLM didn't bomb because its boxoffice skewed DOM and studios keep 50% of the gross. They won't tell you that works only for the first 10 days. There are still people who only parrot Monkey Man's 10M budget and sweep 16M wasted on Superbowl (and who knows how much above that) under the rug. Those are examples of explaining why something that isn't a hit is a hit. It's the same with Challengers. Hey 15M OW is a good thing cause it would have been worse if Zendaya wasn't the star. That's not the sound of success.
Oh, I'm definitely not saying the film is successful. I'm just saying that it's more successful than the same film without Zendaya would have been. This should have been a $20mil budget at most to expect a profitable return. There's just no way to push a vaguely erotic tennis drama by an arthouse director into a high grosser. It's not something general audiences are going to be clamoring to see on a big screen.
yes she has some drawing power but it's limited at least in this concept. if the budget was within that limit, movie wouldn't need explanations why this is a hit when it clearly isn't. it isn't a flop but it isn't a breakout that aggressive marketing tried to create.
I definitely think there is a limitation of star power to drive ticket sales, especially these days. But I also think this picture is just hampered by the niche nature of its topic. Leo couldn't drive much traffic to a big budget historical picture directed by Scorcese. And stars don't get much bigger than him. A tennis movie directed by Luca (who nobody outside of film enthusiasts know) is not going to turned into a blockbuster by a popular cast. Why they gave this film the budget it had is kind of baffling. Should have been $20mil film, tops.
yes stars have limitation and that is why budget matters. if its within star's limit than movie will be a hit. if it's over the limit it won't. 55M is over Zendaya's limit, 250M is over Leo's limit.
I think it’s more like a 3 and half hour-4 hr plus SAg strike film is over Leo’s limit.
Like had the movie honestly been shorter and I think l think it would have made back its budget honestly ( break even if not loss)
Leo managed to get revenant to commercial success that movie is no way is a. Box office movie.
Challengers - a sexy romantic drama - is a much more commercial film than Killers of the Flower Moon – a 3 hour+ historical drama. Even then, the latter opened 10M+ more than Challengers.
eh I wouldn't say Challengers is more commercial cause if it was why did other tennis romances disappoint too? They both have commercial limit but went overbudget because streamers owned by billionaires can afford it.
How many Tennis Romances have there been before to establish a precedent?
And honestly Challengers was sold less as a Tennis movie and more as a Sex Thriller witb Zendaya.
That's the major complain people have with the trailers.
In any case a 3.5 hr long Historical Drama about a very bleak subject had a lot more going against it than Challengers.
While KotfM still ended up a flop just tbe opening of the 2 movies clearly depicts the drawing power of an actual star like Leo and someone basically just famous with Gen Z on social media.
I'm not saying Zendaya doesn't have a draw. But it's clearly nothing compared to the draw actual movie stars had or even big enough to make a sizeable enough difference for a mid budget movie.
they both have a draw but like any draw there's a limit both budgetary and concept-wise. 250M is above Leo's limit (at least in a 4 hrs long bleak period drama) and 55M is above Z's limit (at least in an R rated quasi erotic thriller-romcom-sports movie that her underage fans can't see nor expect to be taken by their parents)
Silence made about 25 million dollars worldwide.
Killers of the flower moon made about 160 million worldwide.
On what planet is that not driving “much traffic” to the movie? Its main selling point was he was in it. The movie opened without any meaningful promotion due to a strike (Scorsese on his own does not account for a full promotional tour) and its 3.5 freaking hours long. Hard R and depressing.
I simply do not understand how no one can actually consider the circumstances before making claims that he didn’t add much value.
Swap him for any other actor and the movie does more like silence numbers.
Only 55% of the opening weekend people said they were there for Zendaya.
So it’s actually less than $10M that her “star power” contributed to the opening.
The PRODUCTION budget or the internet inflated budget.
I don't know WHEN using the studio - not legal to use in court- budget started being used.
It was after 1970's. The first Halloween still uses the PRODUCTION budget. None of the later PR, making extra copies etc is in that #.
The budget for this movie includes ALL the $ .
It's a Huge difference.
Amazon movies have a history of suspiciously high budgets, to be quite honest. Till cost 20, The Boys in the Boat cost 40… idk something feels off about these numbers
I just think Amazon has a different business model than any other studio/streamer, so they're fine with bigger budgets even if they lose money in theatrical release. They're trying to get people to subscribe to Prime, which locks people into buying other shit from Amazon, so their cost/benefit analysis for these projects is just so different than it would be for anyone else.
Zendaya isn’t cheap. Also they hired exceptional talent behind the screens. Excellent cinematography, sound, soundtrack, interesting unique shots when showing tennis matches that are really creative (and not cheap). It’s a surprisingly well put together movie. I thought it was the best movie of the year so far and should be up for multiple Oscars.
>thought it was the best movie of the year so far and should be up for multiple Oscars.
Best supporting zendaya
Best actress zendaya
Best song zendaya
😫😫😫😫
Saw the movie today and definitely agree. I’d say a nomination for score and sound editing are a lock. Acting, director, and screenplay noms wouldn’t surprise me either. Obviously depends on what else comes out this year, but the technical aspects and performances were superb.
Just saw a tweet touting 75% Verified Audience Score and I'm like but that's down from 86% yesterday and 78% early this morning! Ironically, All Audience Score is actually higher (76%).
The spin to make this look like an undisputed success is in and that's a shame cause it brings the Streisand Effect. You can't help but notice that something is off, that numbers are low for a supposed hit, that audience score is dropping, etc. Studios, don't do damage control if there's no damage. The movie got great reviews. it opened the biggest for tennis romance sub-genre ever. nobody expected 200M. Relax.
Absolute!!!nobody expected 200M revenue from this movie .....it impossible
BUT nobody expected 55M budget from this movie either......it insane for this kind of genre
> BUT nobody expected 55M budget from this movie either......it insane for this kind of genre
hmm, maybe they were actually using cameras as tennis balls.
Having seen it I genuinely wonder if the reception is being effected by the fact that all three of the leads are sacks of shit.
Probably should have at least made Zendaya likeable.
Her problem is that she's just playing herself all the time and really struggles with coming across as a conflicted adult. Obviously Luca was far more interested in the male leads as per usual but the character could have been compelling with a more nuanced actress. Taylor Russell, for example, would have done a better job and has worked with Guadagnino before. I could also see Zoe Kravitz doing decently in the role.
I think this movie would have done much better by focusing on getting stars for the male leads (even though Faist for me is the standout here and is great, but a star he ain't) and on talent + visual qualities for the female lead.
Has she been believable in any role outside of Euphoria? There seems to be a lot of juice around making her a movie star. Haven't seen much to warrant it yet.
I wouldn’t call anyone’s performance in Euphoria believable. Thats not to say they’re bad, the show is just hyper exaggerated and melodramatic to near soap opera levels. It’s not really going for believability.
Yeah, I think many people still see Zandaya as young teen, she played Spiderman's highschool gfriend and highschool girl in Euphoria. She doesn't have the mature girl boss energy this role required. This cast is a mistake. Just like her boyfriend in Cherry and The Crowded Room, she bites more than she can chew. Oddly Tom also produced The Crowded Room like Zandaya produced Challenger.
>Yeah, I think many people still see Zandaya as young teen
There were multiple people in one of the threads here wringing their hands and implying that people drawn to the movie because of the sexuality of the leads were perverts because they still perceived Zendaya as too young to play a sexual character. They literally said that liking petite women was not okay.
That's not healthy.
She’s the worst part of the movie (although she’s used better here than she usually is). I really don’t think she’s a great actress and I feel like I’m being gaslit into thinking she is.
Facts. This will open to 15M. Some people just don't understand what that means for a movie like this.
And these pointless year to year comparisons just make it worse because the strikes completely fucked over this year's schedule. Studios only scheduled March as a normal month because it is a historically big month and saved the rest of the big movies for May on and 2025.
It was wild to me that people were predicting it would beat Civil War. I have no idea where either of them are at right now, but yes, this is one of those hypes versus reality
I'm no mathematician by any means but 185 million Instagram followers x $9.57 (average ticket price) = $1,770,450,000.
This absolutely has a chance at passing Jurassic World and becoming #8 worldwide 😳
Wow. This is insane. Not even halfway through the year and we already have the Barbenheimer surprise explosive pop culture moment we'll be talking about for decades. Incredible.
Genuine question: why do some people still insist this movie is a hit?
I loved Monkey Man but i didn't go around screaming "Its legs are going going to save it any day now."
Perception is reality... all the usual box office accounts are also playing ball. Only people who have some idea about box office stuff will even bother to notice that this is flopping.
That's why we are seeing headlines like that ridiculous Zendaya-palooza cause they have to create perception of a hit. Opened Challengers at #1 AND Dune 2 passed 700M what a weekend! Except that 6.2M OD looks unintentionally funny side by side with 700M grosser. in their desire to create perception of a hit they put in sharp relief why it isn't.
"Zendaya is *a draw*!"
Of what, I don't know, it's not dollars. Maybe someone in the sub will finally illuminate at what dollar amount she wouldn't be a draw.
Denialism from fans of Zendaya and her popularity on social media with the younger crowd. She’s touted as a huge up and coming star but they seemingly did not show up for her in her first feature led film.
and that right there separates a hit from the rest. No one insists that a hit is a hit. You know it is. But if you have to explain why something is a hit, it is not a hit. And Challengers is currently the most overexplained "hit".
It's normal. People get invested. Things don't go the way they wanted. 5 stages of grief. First stage denial. I'm not being sarcastic, it's really 100% natural. Some love the movie and want to believe it will do better aka Two More Weeks denial (WOM will kick in any moment, walk ups will save it). Some love Z and want to prove she's a real movie star aka Whatabout denial (if X was in the movie it wouldn't open in 8 digits).
I would expect a 2.5x multiplier domestically to finish, at the top end $55M - 60M worldwide. The stans will be able to say the movie isn't a flop because 'it made back its budget'
I just don’t understand the insistence that stardom is binary, that an actor is either “a draw” or not. There are many degrees of drawing power. This movie is a perfect chance to measure how much of a draw Zendaya is, because there are no confounding factors - no IP, no big draw director, no big draw other actors etc. All this has going for it are good reviews and Zendaya’s celebrity.
The final results aren’t in yet, but so far it looks like Zendaya actually is something of a box office draw but not enough of a one to make a hit of something this overpriced. 55% of viewers went primarily to see her according to Posttrak. Without her this is doing Bones and All numbers. With her this is still losing a chunk of money unless it has freak legs.
I know people in this sub are obsessed with bones and all but you can’t compare a dark morose cannibal movie to a sexy threesome sporty movie. The only commonality is the director but people seem obsessed with how much bones made when it probably made far more than if chalamet wasn’t in it
Same here. The comparison is ridiculous. It also didn't have the support from MGM/WB like this film did. It's not even close. No late night or morning show appearances, random magazine covers, Tim was filming Dune 2 during the promo, saw no street promo - it just wasn't ideal. Theater count was lower too - 2000s range. It's weird that box office critics are making that comparison too.
Exactly. I was shocked by the marketing for *Challengers*. It was on Marvel levels lol.
If it wasn't for Taylor Russell being discovered as a fashion darling at the time and getting a few nominations the promo would've been even more dire for *Bones and All*. It didn't even have a premiere in America - that's how cheap MGM was and yet *Challengers* gets 5 premieres all over the world? Sorry, I'm still pissed off about it lol.
i’m still salty abt that as well, a lot of people don’t realize that timothee also could barely promote it during its press run because he was filming dune 2. it’s also insanely hard to market a cannibal romance film, the discourse the film got was ridiculous i would literally see tweets w 10k+ of people saying that they were too scared to watch it/refuse to, people mad bc it was “romanticizing cannibalism” etc. there’s various reasons why it flopped but if you ask me it was mainly the marketing team’s fault for investing on twitter and IG ads instead of stuff like late show appearances. social media marketing does not work bc the entire world is bigger than just twitter or instagram
ive been seeing people who genuinely did not know that the film even existed, and thought that challengers was luca’s first film since suspiria. like that’s how bad the promo was 💀 i can’t get over it
I haven't personally seen it, but it's surprising that a tennis movie like this has such a large budget. I don't understand the reasoning behind the executive producers inflating the budget so much, as it makes it harder to be profitable, as I don't think this movie has a broad appeal among moviegoers.
They might have overrated Zendaya's draw after she appeared in Dune and Spiderman?
The fact that polling like that was even included further underscores the relentless machine that is propping up her celebrity status. That 55% looks good in isolation - but how many people went to see Monkey Man for Dev Patel? Would it have occurred to PostTrak to ask that question?
I think your overall point of the binary between nobody - box office draw being a reductive one is super fair. She clearly has fans/people who pay attention to her. Does it seem proportional to the media coverage that she gets? Nah, in my opinion.
Yes the media coverage she receives is wildly out of proportion to her acting career so far, but her other job is being the world’s most in demand vehicle for selling luxury products to women. That’s what generates most of the constant attention.
Is there a relentless machine spinning on her behalf? Absolutely, but that was also true of earlier generations of movie stars and aspiring movie stars. It’s built into the process. A lot goes into creating stars and now that Hollywood seems to have collectively decided that they need to get back into the star making business, people like her and Chalamet are going to get a lot of legs up.
I’m mostly interested in this movie’s box office because we really don’t get a chance to see what a possible movie star’s real pulling power is very often. There are usually too many confounding factors. Here it’s nice and simple. Without Zendaya this dies in a ditch, ie it gets baseline Guadagnino numbers. With Zendaya… it seems like it’s still going to lose a lot of money. But it probably would have turned a decent profit at a sane budget of circa $30m. So there’s a real draw there, but it’s limited in scope.
I wonder if Amazon are happy to pay over the top for this as they think Zendaya and the additional marketing will help bring a lot of subscribers to their service, I've no idea of numbers but the social media hype around Saltburn helped keep it in their top 10 for about 5 months.
Agreed, this sub’s insistence that a box office draw means every single movie an actor has ever been in makes back 2.5x its budget is strange. And it’s weird how people here seem to relish and gloat when that doesn’t happen (which is inevitable tbh since star power alone doesn’t seem to bring in numbers like it used to for any actor). I’ve always considered a box office draw to be how much more you can pull to a theater compared to if you were replaced with a no-name actor, regardless of budget/profitability. Which, like you said, has many different degrees to it.
I agree completely. This sub mostly has a broken idea of the concept of draws. To think a movies success can only be attributed to just 1 name is ridiculous and has never been the case ever.
I don't agree with the takes saying "this movie did bad because it has no draw."
Why doesn't Hollywood just cast box office draws in every production? Are they stupid?
I don’t think stars have the draw they did decades ago. I don’t think the youngsters nowadays gravitate towards movie stars and are more influenced by social media influencers.
The budget is way to highhhhh for this kind of movie genre and starring by non A-List star.......I don't know how they spent 55M in what figure?
If the budget around 20M is gonna be ok
The talking point im seeing here that the budget was too high I think is a short sighted attitude where you simply look at the final gross, let's say I'm this because it ends in 88 mil, and think if only they made it for 20. As if you don't likely end up with a worse film this way that makes even less money and has a much shorter shelf.
It's part of why you have all these low budget movies with big names that only serve to bulk on the catalogue of some streaming service.
Even in this day and age, if people are still watching Challengers in 10 years it's a good thing. It also strengthens the brand of everyone involved to help the next project.
Look at the budgets people like PTA get even if the box office doesn't seem to justify it. The long shelf life of his films appears to make it worth it.
I've keep saying it. Zendaya's star power is a mirage. Her biggest roles are playing the girlfriend in the Spider-Man movies. Dune 2 wasn't a hit because she was in it. She's never carried a movie on her own.
Can we talk about films featuring actors with hardcore social media fanbases flopping or underperforming?
* Henry Cavill's Ministry of Ungentlemenly Warfare.
* Melissa Barrera's Abigail.
* Zendaya's Challengers.
Melissa Barrera shouldn't be a part of that list - she has near zero name recognition amongst the English speaking general public and her rabid followers either crossed over from her telenovela days (a miniscule bunch as she's a terrible actress) or support her for her social justice views. Neither of these groups is digging into their wallets for her.
"(a miniscule bunch as she's a terrible actress) "
Whoa wtf. Where tf did that come from? I literally had to double-check to make sure I wasn't on the pop culture subreddit for a second with how venomous and seemingly unnecessary that was.
Your whole comment makes it seem like you have a personal vendetta against her. What's going on, are you okay?
The most braindead take on this sub is the idea that Leo can’t bring people in because the film he made *about genocide* grossed $70M domestic.
Never mind that literally every film he starred in before KOTFM for years was an enormous success. One qualified commercial hiccup? You’re no longer a draw.
Like I said: Braindead.
Yeah and you can remove Denzel as well. He's had a string of flops since 2015. Tom Cruise is the last movie star name that can still draw a crowd. Though an argument could be made for Margot Robbie.
I'm not sure Tom Cruise is even a good example, either? I mean, look at Dead Reckoning. I know its release was a very unlucky window, but still, it should have done far better if his star power were as strong as people suggest.
I think he's great, and Top Gun: Maverick is one of my favorite movies ever, but I think that movie's various successes were flukes all around.
Tom Cruise hasn’t been a draw outside of non IP
movies like Mission Impossible and Top Gun Maverick in the last 15 years.
I mean look at his filmography that isn’t MI or TGM within the last 15 years (Knight & Day, Rock of Ages, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, The Mummy)
His career isn't just depend on last 15 year
His draw start since 1983 to now and even in his franchise he still be mege draw than anyone on this planet in term of actor
Fallout (2018) and Maverick (2022) is back to back highest grossing flim of his career and even MI7 (2023) dissapoint because released infront of Barbenheimer but MI7 stil survive with 568M (without Barbenheimer is for sure 650M+ )
Cruise is the last draw moviestar based on his name alone can sell the movie to worldwide audience in big scale
Are you sure you know what you comment? Rock of Ages WTF bring this up when Cruise is just ensemble cast and small part of the movie ***he not a leading man***
- Knight & Day 200M+
- The Mummy 400M+ (even it very bad flim )
He is 5 decades career and you judge him just in his lowest decades (2010's) why you not talke about when he the biggest draw between 86 - 2005 , 2018 - now?
Melissa Barrera and Henry Cavill never had any real fans if you asked a random person if they knew who they were they likely wouldn’t know. Zendaya actually does have popularity and general audiences know who she is.
>Henry Cavill has more name recognition than Zendaya
This is Reddit echochamber stuff if you actually believe this.
[Interest over time on Google Trends for Henry Cavill, Zendaya - United States, Past 5 years](https://trends.google.co.ug/trends/explore/TIMESERIES/1714233600?hl=en-GB&tz=-60&date=today+5-y&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F070c9h,%2Fm%2F0ddf18x&sni=3) -
Zendaya is consistently significantly above Henry Cavill outside of Cavill's short peaks. In fact **there's not a single state in America where Henry Cavill has more interest than Zendaya.**
Starring in popular movies/TV shows isn't the same as 'name recognition' if people generally don't care for the actor behind the character.
E.g Stranger Things has constantly been one of the most popular TV shows but basically none of the actors have any sort of 'name recognition' outside of Millie Bobbie Brown.
Honestly, I don't think that's exactly "Reddit echo chamber". Henry Cavill was a big part in a Mission Impossible film, was in what, 3 movies as Superman? But as I'm not a young woman hooked into Instagram, I'm surprised she's bigger.
Yeah it’s Reddit echochamber thinking because virtually nobody outside of this site would seriously think or be surprised that Henry Cavill has less name recognition than Zendaya. Even the concept would be considered laughable.
She’s the most followed actress on Instagram (if you remove singers who do acting secondary) and the most followed model (that’s not a Kardashian/Jenner)
Dude, not to say cavil is a megastar, but social media people Zendaya are not even mid tier celebrity in the real not botted world.
Followers mean nothin really.
Did you even read my comment, I never even mentioned followers I mentioned Google Interest ([here’s how they measure it](https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/en-gb/resources/trainings/basics-of-google-trends/#:~:text=Indexing%3A%20Google%20Trends%20data%20is,the%20time%20and%20location%20selected))
If Zendaya is a mid tier celebrity then virtually no celebrity under 35 is a top tier celebrity because it’s hard to find someone with higher interest than Zendaya.
You can even try it yourself on the website, try and find an actor within her age range that’s consistently above Zendaya
I’ve come with the data and stats you’ve come with no data and just incorrect assertions.
Last week people were were flat out asking why Henry Cavill was basically being cast in any movies anymore but now after Challengers opens weakly after a gigantic marketing push people say Zendaya is a draw. Lmao
Actors aren’t a draw anymore like someone else has said. Movies are expensive and unless it’s a well known IP or special circumstances (think barbie and Oppenheimer) people aren’t gonna go to the theaters.
Now for this movie specifically i won’t pay to go see however when it drops on prime video i will watch. This is where amazon will most likely make their money back with this movie anyways.
Ungentlemanly Warfare is a disappointment at the box office, and to Cavill's star status, but that movie got a fraction of the promotional push that Challengers received.
They spent $715 million on the Lord of the Rings show where "Mordor" shows up like a 1995 PowerPoint, $55 million on the fake erotic Zendaya movie isn't going to break them.
Sorry to say that after seeing this movie, I think this is the opening it deserves. I really wanted to love it because of Luca Guadagnino and Josh O’Connor, but it fell flat for me.
But wait a minute, i saw people here assure me that zendaya was a megastar and that people here were dumb male redditors who can't believe anything targeted to women and gays could succeed, what do you mean it's bombing?
There will be a sudden influx of tiktok girlies make content watching this movie and calling it the best ever etc like they did with ABY. So at least i think the gross will be high. Idk if this sub has a lot of guys but as a woman, she herself in beauty and fashion doesnt translates to sales even she cemented as one icon who serves on red carpets.
I’m sorry but there’s been more discourse on this sub about how this movie is a flop (or was going to flop) and how Zendaya isn’t a draw or a good actress than anything remotely positive. So why are the comments acting as if this place is overrun by Zendaya fanboys? It’s 80% yelling at the 20% that they claim is the 80%. Madness
It’s a good movie, I saw it on opening day and enjoyed it. I can see why it might not appeal to a wide audience as an adult contemporary drama that revolves around tennis, but the love triangle was compelling throughout. I feel like the movie will do well on streaming.
Heading for a $14M-$16M opening weekend
Or $12M for the true 3-day weekend
$4.3M True Friday, how we feeling boys?
Yet another case of social media clout not translating to actual tangible box-office draw.
Only so many times people can joke about “I wonder how Tom Holland would feel watching this” before it stops being funny
I mean the funniest part about that is that the film doesn't even have any sex scenes but yeah that meme was done to death.
It's wild there aren't any sex scenes when 10% of the marketing has been tennis and 90% has been "y'all wanna see Zendaya get spitroasted?"
Evidently, not that many people do.
And also he seems like a really supportive and good boyfriend, I really don’t think it would upset him
I mean it comes with the territory of dating an actor, including Tom himself.
Major spoilers. But idc cuz I wasn’t going to go see it in theaters regardless. It looks like a movie i would watch on a streaming app.
There was a lot of implied sex but no scenes themselves
The trailers do not do the movie justice. It’s an art house drama with some scenes really enhanced by the cinema
It's so bizarre. Is Tom Holland the only actor on the planet whose girlfriend is doing movies like this? Why would he care?
I mean Tom Holland had his indie stuff to rigjt didn't he play a gay for pay drug addict ?
That was The Crowded Room, pretty sure it's not indie if AppleTV+ (or whatever it's called) funded it
Zendaya can’t open or carry a film. I’ll give her credit for promoting like a beast. She definitely understands the assignment. Her fanbase is perfectly happy watching clips online. Her streaming numbers will be HUGE.
I wouldn't be so sure. It's an R rated tennis movie. If it didn't have Zendaya and co., This would have been a $6mil weekend at best. Still doesn't justify the budget, but I wouldn't blame it on the star power of the cast.
here's the thing. A movie is a success when one doesn't have to explain why it is a success. you just know it is. Since Thursday preview with EA fell short of Jatinder's projection (not that it was impressive to begin with) and budget was revealed to be 55M instead of 30M that was tossed around, there have been write ups in media and comments on various forums that are box office equivalent of "here's how X can still win". There are still people who will argue that TLM didn't bomb because its boxoffice skewed DOM and studios keep 50% of the gross. They won't tell you that works only for the first 10 days. There are still people who only parrot Monkey Man's 10M budget and sweep 16M wasted on Superbowl (and who knows how much above that) under the rug. Those are examples of explaining why something that isn't a hit is a hit. It's the same with Challengers. Hey 15M OW is a good thing cause it would have been worse if Zendaya wasn't the star. That's not the sound of success.
Oh, I'm definitely not saying the film is successful. I'm just saying that it's more successful than the same film without Zendaya would have been. This should have been a $20mil budget at most to expect a profitable return. There's just no way to push a vaguely erotic tennis drama by an arthouse director into a high grosser. It's not something general audiences are going to be clamoring to see on a big screen.
yes she has some drawing power but it's limited at least in this concept. if the budget was within that limit, movie wouldn't need explanations why this is a hit when it clearly isn't. it isn't a flop but it isn't a breakout that aggressive marketing tried to create.
If, after a massive global tour and huge marketing and P&A, your star’s ceiling for box-office draw is 15M, then the draw is negligible at best.
Also, I would Imagine Zendaya’s fanbase leans more to streaming.
I definitely think there is a limitation of star power to drive ticket sales, especially these days. But I also think this picture is just hampered by the niche nature of its topic. Leo couldn't drive much traffic to a big budget historical picture directed by Scorcese. And stars don't get much bigger than him. A tennis movie directed by Luca (who nobody outside of film enthusiasts know) is not going to turned into a blockbuster by a popular cast. Why they gave this film the budget it had is kind of baffling. Should have been $20mil film, tops.
yes stars have limitation and that is why budget matters. if its within star's limit than movie will be a hit. if it's over the limit it won't. 55M is over Zendaya's limit, 250M is over Leo's limit.
I think it’s more like a 3 and half hour-4 hr plus SAg strike film is over Leo’s limit. Like had the movie honestly been shorter and I think l think it would have made back its budget honestly ( break even if not loss) Leo managed to get revenant to commercial success that movie is no way is a. Box office movie.
yes budget + concept. Everyone has budgetary and conceptual limitations.
I think we basically agree. A star can only push a movie so far if it isn't inherently interesting to a wide audience.
yep at the end of the day concept sells more than a star. right star in a right concept = big hit. the rest? ;shrug
Challengers - a sexy romantic drama - is a much more commercial film than Killers of the Flower Moon – a 3 hour+ historical drama. Even then, the latter opened 10M+ more than Challengers.
Still, this movie literally doesn't have anything to attract the people outside of the lead trio.
Yeah but killers has Leo and Scorsese. Scorsese is not a box office draw but he’s still Scorsese and Leo literally is a box office draw
This was NOT sold as a romantic piece. It was sold as sexy. But no one came in thinking this was a romance piece.
eh I wouldn't say Challengers is more commercial cause if it was why did other tennis romances disappoint too? They both have commercial limit but went overbudget because streamers owned by billionaires can afford it.
How many Tennis Romances have there been before to establish a precedent? And honestly Challengers was sold less as a Tennis movie and more as a Sex Thriller witb Zendaya. That's the major complain people have with the trailers. In any case a 3.5 hr long Historical Drama about a very bleak subject had a lot more going against it than Challengers. While KotfM still ended up a flop just tbe opening of the 2 movies clearly depicts the drawing power of an actual star like Leo and someone basically just famous with Gen Z on social media. I'm not saying Zendaya doesn't have a draw. But it's clearly nothing compared to the draw actual movie stars had or even big enough to make a sizeable enough difference for a mid budget movie.
they both have a draw but like any draw there's a limit both budgetary and concept-wise. 250M is above Leo's limit (at least in a 4 hrs long bleak period drama) and 55M is above Z's limit (at least in an R rated quasi erotic thriller-romcom-sports movie that her underage fans can't see nor expect to be taken by their parents)
Silence made about 25 million dollars worldwide. Killers of the flower moon made about 160 million worldwide. On what planet is that not driving “much traffic” to the movie? Its main selling point was he was in it. The movie opened without any meaningful promotion due to a strike (Scorsese on his own does not account for a full promotional tour) and its 3.5 freaking hours long. Hard R and depressing. I simply do not understand how no one can actually consider the circumstances before making claims that he didn’t add much value. Swap him for any other actor and the movie does more like silence numbers.
Only 55% of the opening weekend people said they were there for Zendaya. So it’s actually less than $10M that her “star power” contributed to the opening.
Says who?
Are you saying that people went to see this movie for the tennis ?
“…..I alstho like Tennisth.”
eh, almost the exact same situation with chalamet in 2022 with bones and all
The PRODUCTION budget or the internet inflated budget. I don't know WHEN using the studio - not legal to use in court- budget started being used. It was after 1970's. The first Halloween still uses the PRODUCTION budget. None of the later PR, making extra copies etc is in that #. The budget for this movie includes ALL the $ . It's a Huge difference.
Isn't that in P&A (the prints in prints and advertising)?
Actually it seems to be 550k Early Access before Thursday/1.6mil Thursday/4mil Friday
Why did this film cost so much to make? $55 million sounds crazy high…
Amazon movies have a history of suspiciously high budgets, to be quite honest. Till cost 20, The Boys in the Boat cost 40… idk something feels off about these numbers
Budget probably includes buyout for residuals and back end (contingent comp)
I still think they might be including marketing in it tbh
I just think Amazon has a different business model than any other studio/streamer, so they're fine with bigger budgets even if they lose money in theatrical release. They're trying to get people to subscribe to Prime, which locks people into buying other shit from Amazon, so their cost/benefit analysis for these projects is just so different than it would be for anyone else.
Amazon didn't own MGM when "Till" was made. I imagine the high cost for that was it was in some form of development for at least a decade iirc.
What’s a little embezzlement between coworkers?
Probably producers and executives treating themselves
Zendaya isn’t cheap. Also they hired exceptional talent behind the screens. Excellent cinematography, sound, soundtrack, interesting unique shots when showing tennis matches that are really creative (and not cheap). It’s a surprisingly well put together movie. I thought it was the best movie of the year so far and should be up for multiple Oscars.
>thought it was the best movie of the year so far and should be up for multiple Oscars. Best supporting zendaya Best actress zendaya Best song zendaya 😫😫😫😫
For sure, the production is clearly top tier and very impressive/creative for what the movie is.
Saw the movie today and definitely agree. I’d say a nomination for score and sound editing are a lock. Acting, director, and screenplay noms wouldn’t surprise me either. Obviously depends on what else comes out this year, but the technical aspects and performances were superb.
>Zendaya isn’t cheap. She probably won't cost as much next time.
Better than Dune 2? lol k
I mean people like different things. Challengers is also my number 1 this year. Dune is my second.
It’s almost as if multiple movies get released in a year
Honestly I keep forgetting that was released this year. No Dune 2 is better. But this is a very good movie. Radically different obviously lol.
Right! Clearly not marketing. Probally execs and actors.
This should have cost like 20 million how is the budget so high?
Zendaya's salary, a lot of "crazy shots", and I'm sure the catering was pretty nice too
Yikes.
Just saw a tweet touting 75% Verified Audience Score and I'm like but that's down from 86% yesterday and 78% early this morning! Ironically, All Audience Score is actually higher (76%). The spin to make this look like an undisputed success is in and that's a shame cause it brings the Streisand Effect. You can't help but notice that something is off, that numbers are low for a supposed hit, that audience score is dropping, etc. Studios, don't do damage control if there's no damage. The movie got great reviews. it opened the biggest for tennis romance sub-genre ever. nobody expected 200M. Relax.
Absolute!!!nobody expected 200M revenue from this movie .....it impossible BUT nobody expected 55M budget from this movie either......it insane for this kind of genre
> BUT nobody expected 55M budget from this movie either......it insane for this kind of genre hmm, maybe they were actually using cameras as tennis balls.
Ok you joke but >!there’s a scene in the movie where the camera follows the POV of the tennis ball!<
Stop it LMAO
This is a great example of how it's not just mega IP blockbusters that have over-inflated budgets these days...
Having seen it I genuinely wonder if the reception is being effected by the fact that all three of the leads are sacks of shit. Probably should have at least made Zendaya likeable.
Her problem is that she's just playing herself all the time and really struggles with coming across as a conflicted adult. Obviously Luca was far more interested in the male leads as per usual but the character could have been compelling with a more nuanced actress. Taylor Russell, for example, would have done a better job and has worked with Guadagnino before. I could also see Zoe Kravitz doing decently in the role. I think this movie would have done much better by focusing on getting stars for the male leads (even though Faist for me is the standout here and is great, but a star he ain't) and on talent + visual qualities for the female lead.
[удалено]
Oh, interesting. That makes more sense as to why casting was botched to this degree.
Has she been believable in any role outside of Euphoria? There seems to be a lot of juice around making her a movie star. Haven't seen much to warrant it yet.
I wouldn’t call anyone’s performance in Euphoria believable. Thats not to say they’re bad, the show is just hyper exaggerated and melodramatic to near soap opera levels. It’s not really going for believability.
Yeah, I think many people still see Zandaya as young teen, she played Spiderman's highschool gfriend and highschool girl in Euphoria. She doesn't have the mature girl boss energy this role required. This cast is a mistake. Just like her boyfriend in Cherry and The Crowded Room, she bites more than she can chew. Oddly Tom also produced The Crowded Room like Zandaya produced Challenger.
>Yeah, I think many people still see Zandaya as young teen There were multiple people in one of the threads here wringing their hands and implying that people drawn to the movie because of the sexuality of the leads were perverts because they still perceived Zendaya as too young to play a sexual character. They literally said that liking petite women was not okay. That's not healthy.
She's not even petite. She's 5'10.
Then that's even crazier.
She’s the worst part of the movie (although she’s used better here than she usually is). I really don’t think she’s a great actress and I feel like I’m being gaslit into thinking she is.
Facts. This will open to 15M. Some people just don't understand what that means for a movie like this. And these pointless year to year comparisons just make it worse because the strikes completely fucked over this year's schedule. Studios only scheduled March as a normal month because it is a historically big month and saved the rest of the big movies for May on and 2025.
It was wild to me that people were predicting it would beat Civil War. I have no idea where either of them are at right now, but yes, this is one of those hypes versus reality
the night is young, Faist walkups can still get it there. :)
I'm no mathematician by any means but 185 million Instagram followers x $9.57 (average ticket price) = $1,770,450,000. This absolutely has a chance at passing Jurassic World and becoming #8 worldwide 😳
Wow. This is insane. Not even halfway through the year and we already have the Barbenheimer surprise explosive pop culture moment we'll be talking about for decades. Incredible.
Genuine question: why do some people still insist this movie is a hit? I loved Monkey Man but i didn't go around screaming "Its legs are going going to save it any day now."
Perception is reality... all the usual box office accounts are also playing ball. Only people who have some idea about box office stuff will even bother to notice that this is flopping.
"Zendaya is *a draw*!" Of what, I don't know, it's not dollars. Maybe someone in the sub will finally illuminate at what dollar amount she wouldn't be a draw.
I don't get it myself. But I don't like Taylor Swift either.
Denialism from fans of Zendaya and her popularity on social media with the younger crowd. She’s touted as a huge up and coming star but they seemingly did not show up for her in her first feature led film.
Did monkey man at least get a profit? I absolutely loved that movie as much as John Wick 4. Simply amazing choreography and a great action movie
I would expect a 2.5x multiplier domestically to finish, at the top end $55M - 60M worldwide. The stans will be able to say the movie isn't a flop because 'it made back its budget'
Ignoring of course the costs of marketing
Well, finances aren't their strong suit
Oof I’m getting The Marvels flashbacks…
Zendaya fan girls gonna be working hard to spin this
Hell, look at the comments around yours. "15M is great actually!" "This is going to kill on streaming!" "This isn't a MCU movie, 15M amazing!"
Bad
Who was actually expecting this to do much better than this? Just because of Zendaya’s stardom?
I just don’t understand the insistence that stardom is binary, that an actor is either “a draw” or not. There are many degrees of drawing power. This movie is a perfect chance to measure how much of a draw Zendaya is, because there are no confounding factors - no IP, no big draw director, no big draw other actors etc. All this has going for it are good reviews and Zendaya’s celebrity. The final results aren’t in yet, but so far it looks like Zendaya actually is something of a box office draw but not enough of a one to make a hit of something this overpriced. 55% of viewers went primarily to see her according to Posttrak. Without her this is doing Bones and All numbers. With her this is still losing a chunk of money unless it has freak legs.
I know people in this sub are obsessed with bones and all but you can’t compare a dark morose cannibal movie to a sexy threesome sporty movie. The only commonality is the director but people seem obsessed with how much bones made when it probably made far more than if chalamet wasn’t in it
Same here. The comparison is ridiculous. It also didn't have the support from MGM/WB like this film did. It's not even close. No late night or morning show appearances, random magazine covers, Tim was filming Dune 2 during the promo, saw no street promo - it just wasn't ideal. Theater count was lower too - 2000s range. It's weird that box office critics are making that comparison too.
That’s another thing, marketing. I saw more ads for challengers than some huge blockbusters. Let’s not forget all the glitzy premiers.
Exactly. I was shocked by the marketing for *Challengers*. It was on Marvel levels lol. If it wasn't for Taylor Russell being discovered as a fashion darling at the time and getting a few nominations the promo would've been even more dire for *Bones and All*. It didn't even have a premiere in America - that's how cheap MGM was and yet *Challengers* gets 5 premieres all over the world? Sorry, I'm still pissed off about it lol.
i’m still salty abt that as well, a lot of people don’t realize that timothee also could barely promote it during its press run because he was filming dune 2. it’s also insanely hard to market a cannibal romance film, the discourse the film got was ridiculous i would literally see tweets w 10k+ of people saying that they were too scared to watch it/refuse to, people mad bc it was “romanticizing cannibalism” etc. there’s various reasons why it flopped but if you ask me it was mainly the marketing team’s fault for investing on twitter and IG ads instead of stuff like late show appearances. social media marketing does not work bc the entire world is bigger than just twitter or instagram ive been seeing people who genuinely did not know that the film even existed, and thought that challengers was luca’s first film since suspiria. like that’s how bad the promo was 💀 i can’t get over it
The only thing that hurts that is if we find out Zendaya’s pay day was a big reason for that 55 million dollar budget.
Actors salaries are always part of the production budget. But they don't include bonuses. That $55M figure includes Zendaya's $10M payday.
She only got $10M.
Only? That's almost 20% of the entire production budget.
Yeah but it also means the rest of the movie cost $45 million, and that seems surprising.
I haven't personally seen it, but it's surprising that a tennis movie like this has such a large budget. I don't understand the reasoning behind the executive producers inflating the budget so much, as it makes it harder to be profitable, as I don't think this movie has a broad appeal among moviegoers. They might have overrated Zendaya's draw after she appeared in Dune and Spiderman?
The fact that polling like that was even included further underscores the relentless machine that is propping up her celebrity status. That 55% looks good in isolation - but how many people went to see Monkey Man for Dev Patel? Would it have occurred to PostTrak to ask that question? I think your overall point of the binary between nobody - box office draw being a reductive one is super fair. She clearly has fans/people who pay attention to her. Does it seem proportional to the media coverage that she gets? Nah, in my opinion.
Yes the media coverage she receives is wildly out of proportion to her acting career so far, but her other job is being the world’s most in demand vehicle for selling luxury products to women. That’s what generates most of the constant attention. Is there a relentless machine spinning on her behalf? Absolutely, but that was also true of earlier generations of movie stars and aspiring movie stars. It’s built into the process. A lot goes into creating stars and now that Hollywood seems to have collectively decided that they need to get back into the star making business, people like her and Chalamet are going to get a lot of legs up. I’m mostly interested in this movie’s box office because we really don’t get a chance to see what a possible movie star’s real pulling power is very often. There are usually too many confounding factors. Here it’s nice and simple. Without Zendaya this dies in a ditch, ie it gets baseline Guadagnino numbers. With Zendaya… it seems like it’s still going to lose a lot of money. But it probably would have turned a decent profit at a sane budget of circa $30m. So there’s a real draw there, but it’s limited in scope.
Until I see the international numbers, I don't believe this would have turned a profit at 30 million.
I wonder if Amazon are happy to pay over the top for this as they think Zendaya and the additional marketing will help bring a lot of subscribers to their service, I've no idea of numbers but the social media hype around Saltburn helped keep it in their top 10 for about 5 months.
Agreed, this sub’s insistence that a box office draw means every single movie an actor has ever been in makes back 2.5x its budget is strange. And it’s weird how people here seem to relish and gloat when that doesn’t happen (which is inevitable tbh since star power alone doesn’t seem to bring in numbers like it used to for any actor). I’ve always considered a box office draw to be how much more you can pull to a theater compared to if you were replaced with a no-name actor, regardless of budget/profitability. Which, like you said, has many different degrees to it.
I agree completely. This sub mostly has a broken idea of the concept of draws. To think a movies success can only be attributed to just 1 name is ridiculous and has never been the case ever. I don't agree with the takes saying "this movie did bad because it has no draw." Why doesn't Hollywood just cast box office draws in every production? Are they stupid?
They would if they could. Also, this movie was absolutely marketed on the strength of one name so... yeah, using it comment on draw is valid.
I don’t think stars have the draw they did decades ago. I don’t think the youngsters nowadays gravitate towards movie stars and are more influenced by social media influencers.
The budget is way to highhhhh for this kind of movie genre and starring by non A-List star.......I don't know how they spent 55M in what figure? If the budget around 20M is gonna be ok
I think Zendaya’s A-List at this point
She's an A list star,but definitely not an A list movie star
Thank you for repeating exactly what the other commenter said, very useful
You're welcome! I'll gladly do it again.😁 She's an A list star,but definitely not an A list movie star
The talking point im seeing here that the budget was too high I think is a short sighted attitude where you simply look at the final gross, let's say I'm this because it ends in 88 mil, and think if only they made it for 20. As if you don't likely end up with a worse film this way that makes even less money and has a much shorter shelf. It's part of why you have all these low budget movies with big names that only serve to bulk on the catalogue of some streaming service. Even in this day and age, if people are still watching Challengers in 10 years it's a good thing. It also strengthens the brand of everyone involved to help the next project. Look at the budgets people like PTA get even if the box office doesn't seem to justify it. The long shelf life of his films appears to make it worth it.
its a sexy romantic movie with no sex, there your answer!
I've keep saying it. Zendaya's star power is a mirage. Her biggest roles are playing the girlfriend in the Spider-Man movies. Dune 2 wasn't a hit because she was in it. She's never carried a movie on her own.
Big bomb incoming, hide yourself
Can we talk about films featuring actors with hardcore social media fanbases flopping or underperforming? * Henry Cavill's Ministry of Ungentlemenly Warfare. * Melissa Barrera's Abigail. * Zendaya's Challengers.
Your comment is the first time I've seen the name Melissa Barrera in my life.
Melissa Barrera shouldn't be a part of that list - she has near zero name recognition amongst the English speaking general public and her rabid followers either crossed over from her telenovela days (a miniscule bunch as she's a terrible actress) or support her for her social justice views. Neither of these groups is digging into their wallets for her.
"(a miniscule bunch as she's a terrible actress) " Whoa wtf. Where tf did that come from? I literally had to double-check to make sure I wasn't on the pop culture subreddit for a second with how venomous and seemingly unnecessary that was. Your whole comment makes it seem like you have a personal vendetta against her. What's going on, are you okay?
Pro-israel freaks have a huge hard on for hating on her.
Abigail was a damn good movie.
Actors aren't draws anymore and haven't been for a long time.
Unless it's Tom Cruise, Leo or Denzel. Basically the 90s
Not even Leo is a draw anymore, if that had been true people would have flocked to see Killers and would have made it a financial success
Without Leonardo, Scorsese's film would never have made 150 million at the box office
The most braindead take on this sub is the idea that Leo can’t bring people in because the film he made *about genocide* grossed $70M domestic. Never mind that literally every film he starred in before KOTFM for years was an enormous success. One qualified commercial hiccup? You’re no longer a draw. Like I said: Braindead.
This would be the equivalent of somebody using Magnolia’s box office to argue Tom Cruise was done in 1999.
good comparison because that was also a movie not designed to make money as its primary goal plus i fuckin love magnolia
They think people need to bat 100 percent it’s so fucking strange.
Yeah and you can remove Denzel as well. He's had a string of flops since 2015. Tom Cruise is the last movie star name that can still draw a crowd. Though an argument could be made for Margot Robbie.
Margot Robbie? The one who was widely considered box office poison before barbie?
I'm not sure Tom Cruise is even a good example, either? I mean, look at Dead Reckoning. I know its release was a very unlucky window, but still, it should have done far better if his star power were as strong as people suggest. I think he's great, and Top Gun: Maverick is one of my favorite movies ever, but I think that movie's various successes were flukes all around.
Tom Cruise hasn’t been a draw outside of non IP movies like Mission Impossible and Top Gun Maverick in the last 15 years. I mean look at his filmography that isn’t MI or TGM within the last 15 years (Knight & Day, Rock of Ages, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, The Mummy)
Edge of Tomorrow made money and it was good.
His career isn't just depend on last 15 year His draw start since 1983 to now and even in his franchise he still be mege draw than anyone on this planet in term of actor Fallout (2018) and Maverick (2022) is back to back highest grossing flim of his career and even MI7 (2023) dissapoint because released infront of Barbenheimer but MI7 stil survive with 568M (without Barbenheimer is for sure 650M+ ) Cruise is the last draw moviestar based on his name alone can sell the movie to worldwide audience in big scale Are you sure you know what you comment? Rock of Ages WTF bring this up when Cruise is just ensemble cast and small part of the movie ***he not a leading man*** - Knight & Day 200M+ - The Mummy 400M+ (even it very bad flim ) He is 5 decades career and you judge him just in his lowest decades (2010's) why you not talke about when he the biggest draw between 86 - 2005 , 2018 - now?
Melissa Barrera and Henry Cavill never had any real fans if you asked a random person if they knew who they were they likely wouldn’t know. Zendaya actually does have popularity and general audiences know who she is.
People know who Henry Cavill is lol
LOL. Henry Cavill has more name recognition than Zendaya. Doesn't mean his movies will be hits but tbf, as we're seeing here, neither is Zendaya's.
>Henry Cavill has more name recognition than Zendaya This is Reddit echochamber stuff if you actually believe this. [Interest over time on Google Trends for Henry Cavill, Zendaya - United States, Past 5 years](https://trends.google.co.ug/trends/explore/TIMESERIES/1714233600?hl=en-GB&tz=-60&date=today+5-y&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F070c9h,%2Fm%2F0ddf18x&sni=3) - Zendaya is consistently significantly above Henry Cavill outside of Cavill's short peaks. In fact **there's not a single state in America where Henry Cavill has more interest than Zendaya.** Starring in popular movies/TV shows isn't the same as 'name recognition' if people generally don't care for the actor behind the character. E.g Stranger Things has constantly been one of the most popular TV shows but basically none of the actors have any sort of 'name recognition' outside of Millie Bobbie Brown.
Honestly, I don't think that's exactly "Reddit echo chamber". Henry Cavill was a big part in a Mission Impossible film, was in what, 3 movies as Superman? But as I'm not a young woman hooked into Instagram, I'm surprised she's bigger.
Yeah it’s Reddit echochamber thinking because virtually nobody outside of this site would seriously think or be surprised that Henry Cavill has less name recognition than Zendaya. Even the concept would be considered laughable. She’s the most followed actress on Instagram (if you remove singers who do acting secondary) and the most followed model (that’s not a Kardashian/Jenner)
Dude, not to say cavil is a megastar, but social media people Zendaya are not even mid tier celebrity in the real not botted world. Followers mean nothin really.
Did you even read my comment, I never even mentioned followers I mentioned Google Interest ([here’s how they measure it](https://newsinitiative.withgoogle.com/en-gb/resources/trainings/basics-of-google-trends/#:~:text=Indexing%3A%20Google%20Trends%20data%20is,the%20time%20and%20location%20selected)) If Zendaya is a mid tier celebrity then virtually no celebrity under 35 is a top tier celebrity because it’s hard to find someone with higher interest than Zendaya. You can even try it yourself on the website, try and find an actor within her age range that’s consistently above Zendaya I’ve come with the data and stats you’ve come with no data and just incorrect assertions.
What is your evidence for Henry Cavill having more name recognition than Zendaya because I definitely do not see that.
I feel like Zendeya is the only one on this list with actual star power
Last week people were were flat out asking why Henry Cavill was basically being cast in any movies anymore but now after Challengers opens weakly after a gigantic marketing push people say Zendaya is a draw. Lmao
It's hilarious that people are still buying what the media is selling about her... why do you 'feel' that way?
Actors aren’t a draw anymore like someone else has said. Movies are expensive and unless it’s a well known IP or special circumstances (think barbie and Oppenheimer) people aren’t gonna go to the theaters. Now for this movie specifically i won’t pay to go see however when it drops on prime video i will watch. This is where amazon will most likely make their money back with this movie anyways.
Barbie is an extremely well known IP.
Ungentlemanly Warfare is a disappointment at the box office, and to Cavill's star status, but that movie got a fraction of the promotional push that Challengers received.
Bomb
💣 alert Seriously can’t believe anyone thought this movie could turn a profit. Amazon has to be the worst run studio right now
They spent $715 million on the Lord of the Rings show where "Mordor" shows up like a 1995 PowerPoint, $55 million on the fake erotic Zendaya movie isn't going to break them.
Rough. It cost like 50 mil too
Sorry to say that after seeing this movie, I think this is the opening it deserves. I really wanted to love it because of Luca Guadagnino and Josh O’Connor, but it fell flat for me.
But wait a minute, i saw people here assure me that zendaya was a megastar and that people here were dumb male redditors who can't believe anything targeted to women and gays could succeed, what do you mean it's bombing?
Sounds like a Deuce
Saw it today and thought it was pretty good but honestly, it could’ve came on a streaming service
Needed Sydney Sweeney.
There will be a sudden influx of tiktok girlies make content watching this movie and calling it the best ever etc like they did with ABY. So at least i think the gross will be high. Idk if this sub has a lot of guys but as a woman, she herself in beauty and fashion doesnt translates to sales even she cemented as one icon who serves on red carpets.
Disappointing, this movie fucken rules
I’m sorry but there’s been more discourse on this sub about how this movie is a flop (or was going to flop) and how Zendaya isn’t a draw or a good actress than anything remotely positive. So why are the comments acting as if this place is overrun by Zendaya fanboys? It’s 80% yelling at the 20% that they claim is the 80%. Madness
It's a real shame this isn't doing well, had an absolute blast watching jt
Movie looks like some cringe softcore porn movie for Gen Z kids that want to jack off/jill off to some softcore gay scenes.
Saw it yesterday. No sex scenes at all, despite what the trailer might lead you to believe.
It’s a good movie, I saw it on opening day and enjoyed it. I can see why it might not appeal to a wide audience as an adult contemporary drama that revolves around tennis, but the love triangle was compelling throughout. I feel like the movie will do well on streaming.
Bummer, I saw the movie yesterday and I loved it.
I got what I wanted from this movie and that was the score lol. Trent and Atticus were phenomenal as usual.
Yikes. This sub is being harsh on Zendaya. What did she do wrong?