Challengers is a 2024 American sports film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. It follows a love triangle between an injured tennis star-turned-coach (Zendaya), her tennis player ex–boyfriend (Josh O'Connor), and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist), spanning 13 years of their relationship and leading to a match between the two men on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The film premiered in Sydney, Australia, on March 26, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States a month later by Amazon MGM Studios. Challengers earned $96 million in worldwide revenue against a production budget of $55 million. The film was met with critical acclaim, with praise for its performances, editing, screenplay, direction, and musical score. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Challengers holds an approval rating of 88% based on 380 reviews.
At the Golden Globe Awards, Challengers received four nominations including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, winning Best Original Score (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). It garnered fifteen nominations at the Astra Awards, winning Best Comedy or Musical at the Astra Film Awards, Best Film Editing (Marco Costa) at the Astra Creative Arts Awards, and Best Actress (Zendaya) and Best Screenplay (Kuritzkes) at the Astra Midseason Movie Awards. Challengers received several other nominations, including six Dorian Awards (two wins), four Critics' Choice Movie Awards (two wins), and two Gotham Awards (one win). The film also received the ReFrame Stamp and a Women Film Critics Circle Award for its gender-balanced production. Reznor and Ross garnered awards for their work on the musical score at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards and the Dorian Awards, as well as nominations at the Grammy Awards, the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards. Zendaya received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Accolades + Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards January 7, 2025 Best Ensemble Cast and Casting Director Challengers American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards March 14, 2025 Best Edited Feature Film – Comedy or Musical Artios Awards February 12, 2025 Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Big Budget Feature (Comedy) and Molly Rose ASCAP Screen Music Awards April 30, 2025 Film Score of the Year Astra Creative Arts Awards December 8, 2024 Best Cinematography Best Film Editing Best Marketing Campaign Challengers Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Best Original Song (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) Best Sound Challengers Astra Film Awards December 8, 2024 Best Picture Challengers Best Comedy or Musical Challengers Best Original Screenplay Astra Midseason Movie Awards July 3, 2024 Best Picture Challengers Best Director Best Actor Best Actress Zendaya Best Supporting Actor Best Screenplay Austin Film Critics Association Awards January 6, 2025 Best Original Screenplay Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Black Reel Awards February 17, 2025 Outstanding Film Challengers (Luca Guadagnino, Amy Pascal, Zendaya, and Rachel O'Connor) Outstanding Lead Performance Zendaya Boston Society of Film Critics Awards December 8, 2024 Best Editing Chicago Film Critics Association Awards December 11, 2024 Best Original Screenplay Best Cinematography Best Editing Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Costume Designers Guild Awards February 6, 2025 Excellence in Contemporary Film Critics' Choice Movie Awards February 7, 2025 Best Original Screenplay Best Editing Best Score and Atticus Ross Best Song (Luca Guadagnino, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross) Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards December 18, 2024 Best Musical Score and Atticus Ross Dorian Awards February 13, 2025 Film of the Year Challengers LGBTQ Film of the Year Challengers Director of the Year Screenplay of the Year LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year Film Music of the Year and Atticus Ross Florida Film Critics Circle Awards December 20, 2024 Best Actor Best Ensemble Challengers Best Director Best Original Screenplay Best Cinematography Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Georgia Film Critics Association Awards January 7, 2025 Best Picture Challengers Best Original Screenplay Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Best Original Song (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) Golden Globe Awards January 5, 2025 Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Challengers Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Zendaya Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Best Original Song (Luca Guadagnino, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross) Gotham Awards December 2, 2024 Best Feature Challengers Spotlight Tribute Award Zendaya Grammy Awards February 2, 2025 Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and Atticus Ross Hollywood Music in Media Awards November 20, 2024 Best Original Score in a Feature Film and Atticus Ross Best Original Song in a Feature Film (Luca Guadagnino, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Mariqueen Maandig) Houston Film Critics Society Awards January 14, 2025 Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Best Original Song IndieWire Critics Poll December 16, 2024 Best Film Challengers Best Director Best Screenplay Best Cinematography International Cinephile Society Awards February 9, 2025 Best Picture Challengers Best Original Screenplay Best Editing Best Score and Atticus Ross Best Sound Design and Paul Carter Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards January 4, 2025 Best Original Score and Atticus Ross London Film Critics Circle Awards February 2, 2025 British/Irish Performer of the Year Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards December 8, 2024 Best Music and Atticus Ross NAACP Image Awards February 22, 2025 Outstanding Original Score for Television or Motion Picture and Atticus Ross Nastro d'Argento June 27, 2024 Best Director Best Editing New York Film Critics Online Awards December 16, 2024 Best Use of Music Challengers Online Film Critics Society Awards January 27, 2025 Best Picture Challengers Best Original Screenplay Best Editing Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Queerties March 12, 2024 Next Big Thing Challengers March 11, 2025 Best Comedy Movie Challengers The ReFrame Stamp March 26, 2025 Gender-Balanced Production Challengers San Diego Film Critics Society Awards December 9, 2024 Best Picture Challengers Best Original Screenplay Best Editing Best Use of Music Challengers San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Awards December 15, 2024 Best Film Editing Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Seattle Film Critics Society Awards December 16, 2024 Best Picture Challengers (Luca Guadagnino) Best Supporting Actor Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards February 12, 2025 Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production (Luca Guadagnino, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross) St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards December 15, 2024 Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Toronto Film Critics Association Awards December 15, 2024 Best Original Screenplay Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards December 8, 2024 Best Original Screenplay Best Original Score and Atticus Ross Women Film Critics Circle Awards January 15, 2025 Best Equality of the Sexes Challengers Writers Guild of America Awards February 15, 2025 Best Original Screenplay
Notes
References
External links Awards for Challengers on IMDb