Box Office: ‘Challengers’ Scores First Place Finish With $15 Million Debut
28.04.2024 - 15:37
/ variety.com
Brent Lang Executive Editor Game, set, and now what to make of this match? “Challengers,” a sexy, subversive, R-rated drama set in the world of tennis, easily took first place at a sluggish domestic box office this weekend with a so-so $15.2 million. On the one hand, it’s a respectable result for an artsy movie aimed at discerning, adult audiences, but what keeps it from being a championship performance is the fact that “Challengers” has a hefty $55 million budget (to say nothing of its marketing costs).
The Amazon MGM Studios release will need strong word-of-mouth if it’s going to keep rallying — and next week brings Universal’s “The Fall Guy,” a Ryan Reynolds and Emily Blunt action-comedy that marks the unofficial start of summer blockbuster season. The competition only stands to get more difficult from here.
Amazon MGM would probably argue that “Challengers” doesn’t need to be a box office phenomenon in order to be successful. The higher profile that comes with a theatrical release will lift “Challengers” when it debuts on Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming service, and set it up nicely for other home entertainment revenue streams, or so the thinking goes.
Those revenues and that viewership data goes largely unreported or is spun within an inch of its life, so it’s getting harder to know what constitutes a true win in this new streaming era. Kevin Wilson, the head of theatrical distribution at Amazon MGM Studios, said he expects that the film will score with Prime Video subscribers, comparing it to “Saltburn,” the steamy drama that the company released last fall which went on to be among its most-watched streaming releases.
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.