“Challengers” proved a little challenging last night at the box office.
The Zendaya tennis menage a trois made $1.9 million last night in previews, including earlier screenings. It’s good but not great and points to maybe an ambivalent audience response.
This rom-dram co-stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist best guy friends who are maybe a little gay-ish. They fall in love with Zendaya on the tennis court. There’s a lot of sex, sex, sex. I thought the young demo audience would rush to see it.
“Challengers” should be promoted for the sex and the young people, and to Zendaya’s audience. The stars have done a ton of press. There may have been a New York premiere.
Look for a $14 million opening weekend unless word of mouth is great and “Challengers” takes off like a soaring tennis ball over the weekend. One reason it might not — and I saw this on Twitter reports over night — the time line of the film is very hard to follow. Every other scene has a card that reads “Ten Years Earlier,” “Fifteen Years Earlier,” “Three Days from Now.” It’s worse than “Lost’!
