Zendaya's 'Challengers' Smashes to No. 1 at Box Office After Tom Holland's Support

Celebrity

Luca Guadagnino's sexy, R-rated sports drama scores a win on its first weekend in U.S. theaters with approximately $15 million at another sluggish box office.

Apr 29, 2024

AceShowbiz - "Challengers" has conquered the North American box office on its first weekend. The romantic sports drama easily smashed to the first place with approximately $15 million from 3,477 locations in the U.S. ad Canada.

"We're obviously very, very happy with the number," said Kevin Wilson, who heads theatrical distribution for Amazon Studios and MGM. "Looking at the audience who showed up, it's really encouraging. It's not the easiest audience to get to theaters."

Women made up 58% of ticket buyers, who also skewed younger overall. 41% of the audiences were between the ages of 18 and 24.

While Tom Holland was not part of the movie in any way, he should be credited for hyping up the film. The British actor supported his girlfriend Zendaya Coleman by promoting the movie on his Instagram page on Saturday, April 27. He posted the film's poster featuring a close-up shot of the Emmy-winning actress and wrote along with it, "I know what I'm doing this weekend!"

Editors' Pick

Despite the No. 1 debut, Luca Guadagnino's sexy, R-rated drama was way from having a championship performance as it has a hefty $55 million budget. While reviews are positive and audiences gave it an average grade of B+, the competition will only get fiercer next week with the arrival of Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt's action comedy "The Fall Guy".

Wilson, however, doesn't seem to sweat it out as he expressed his confidence with the upcoming streaming performance of "Challengers". "This movie is going to way over-perform when it gets on our platform," he said, noting that the theatrical revenues are essentially helping to off-set the film's marketing costs. "Amazon's financials are a little bit different in terms of comparing them to other studios."

Another newcomer this week, "Unsung Hero" debuts at No. 2 with an estimated $7.8 million. The drama about the formation of the popular Christian rock duo For King & Country cost a mere $6 million to produce, giving the faith-based film a clear path to profitability.

Elsewhere in the top five, "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire" holds on to the third place with an estimated $7.2 million. Previous champion "Civil War" drops to No. 4 with approximately $7 million after holding onto the first place for two weeks in a row. "Abigail" also plunges from No. 2 to No. 5 with an estimated $5.2 million.

Top 10 of North American Box Office (Apr. 16-28, 2024):