Summary
- Sports romance film “Challengers” starring Zendaya has been pushed back to April 2024 from its previous September release date.
- The film follows three tennis players, including Zendaya’s character, as they compete in a tournament while simultaneously searching for romance.
- The delay is because the film could not make it to its scheduled launch at the Venice Film Festival due to the ongoing actors’ strike.
Sports romance film Challengers starring Zendaya is reportedly not set to release in September as originally planned. The Challengers follows three tennis players, including Tashi Duncan, played by Zendaya, as they compete in a tennis tournament. At the same time, players Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Feist) compete for Tashi’s heart.
Now, Deadline confirms that the release date of The Challengers has been pushed from September 15, 2023, to April 26, 2024. The new release date comes as The Challengers did not make its launch at the Venice Film Festival due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike. The report also suggested that the film’s date has been delayed due to the strike.
Like other film launches, they were also affected by the actors’ strike.
Zendaya’s Challengers isn’t the only film whose release has been delayed due to the ongoing actors’ strike. A24’s film, Problemista, starring Julio Torres and Tilda Swinton, was also moved from its August 4, 2023 release date. Dirty Dancing 2 also faced a backlash due to the strike, delaying its release from February 2024 to summer 2025.
It was also revealed that Dune: Part II could be delayed to 2024, along with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Color Purple, due to the WGA actors’ and writers’ strike. Other major upcoming releases like Deadpool 3, whose shooting is yet to be completed, are also likely to get delayed due to the strike. This means that although release dates for some films have been set through recent trailers or reports, there could be significant delays as the Hollywood strike continues.
One of the main reasons for the delay of full-length films like Challengers is that the actors will not be able to promote the films in the press. This may result in lower ticket sales which may affect the box office revenue of the film. It appears that Challengers has been delayed from September 2023 to April 2024 in the hope that the actors’ strike will be over by the time the film is ready to release.
Source: Deadline