Challengers Will Prove Whether Zendaya Has Leading Lady Credentials

At just 27, Zendaya has quickly become one of the biggest stars of her generation. Through her HBO series Euphoria, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe, while her appearances in the MCU Spider-Man films and Dune have garnered her huge international appeal. She’s a fashion icon who continues to break barriers, and Time Magazine even named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.

There is no denying her reach, but the actress has one more test to prove with the upcoming release of the tennis drama Challengers. Zendaya is front and center in that film, and with most of its success riding on her name alone, the movie will be the ultimate barometer of whether she has achieved leading lady status and can guarantee box office success.

Challengers Will Feature Zendaya Taking the Lead in a Feature Film

Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a tennis pro derailed by an injury, who ultimately becomes a coach. The situation isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Tashi is entangled in a love triangle with her current husband, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), and her former boyfriend, Patrick (Josh O’Connor). Both men are tennis players, and everything is made more complicated when she signs up her husband for a Challenger event, which sees him face off against her former lover.

It’s a decidedly more adult role for Zendaya, and from the looks of the trailer, she’s going to new places that she hasn’t quite gone to in her career just yet. The trailers are selling sex and duplicity, and at the forefront of all of it is Zendaya. Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor no doubt have their appeal and their fans, but it’s clear Amazon MGM Studios and Warner Bros., the two studios distributing the film domestically and internationally, know that that selling point is the young actress, and they’re banking on it entirely.

Challengers was set to be released in September of last year, and its world premiere was to take place at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. Plans changed when the film was delayed and pulled from the festival by Amazon MGM Studios due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. The strike prevented the film’s stars from promoting the project. The studio was keenly aware that its stars, particularly Zendaya, needed to be available to promote the movie to its fullest. The actress has a staggering 184 million followers on Instagram, so her reach is significant, and the studio wanted a piece of that promotion.

Proving even more of her potential sway as a social media figure and film star, the first trailer for Challengers had achieved 150 million global views when the decision was made to delay the movie due to the strike. In addition to generating 320 million stateside discussions, the trailer was the most-viewed for an original film, meaning not a sequel, reboot, or movie based on pre-existing IP, in its first 24 hours. With figures like that, one has to wonder if that is the appeal of tennis or Zendaya’s pull with audiences.

With the release of the film’s second trailer, Zendaya continues to be the core of the film’s marketing. As Nelly Furtado’s Maneater plays over the preview, text flashes across the screen that says, “This year, her game, her rules.” This can be viewed as a declaration not only about Zendaya’s character but also about Zendaya herself. The actress gets top-billing in the second look at the film, and the movie’s key art is primarily an image of Zendaya, as she looks at her character’s husband and former lover during one of their matches. There is no doubt about who the studio is banking on, and they’re right to do so. All signs point to Zendaya being a huge box-office star. Despite all of her success, the surprising part is that she hasn’t had to prove it on her own just yet.

Zendaya Has Been in Box Office Hits as Part of an Ensemble

Across three Spider-Man films, her role as Michelle, aka M.J., grew substantially with each installment, and those films proved to be huge global successes. Homecoming took in $880 million worldwide, followed by the $1.1 billion of Far From Home, which culminated with the massive $1.9 billion global success of No Way Home. Her appeal is undoubtedly attributed to some of that, particularly the third installment, but she was a supporting player, and those films didn’t depend on her name alone.

If anything, star Tom Holland has more pressure on his back for those to succeed, while the Marvel train takes care of the bulk of it. It also doesn’t hurt that Holland and Zendaya are a young adult power couple who would make many people think love is dead if they ever broke up. Again, many factors were at play, but Zendaya didn’t have to carry the weight alone.

Related

Zendaya Is Down to Return in Dune: Part Three

Zendaya would definitely reprise the role of Chani in Dune Messiah.

With the Dune films, Zendaya’s role as Chani is small in Part One. She has minutes of screen time in that film with promises of greater things to do in the follow-up. That didn’t stop Warner Bros. from selling her image thoroughly with the ensemble as if her role was more substantial. They could tell even then that her appeal meant enough to shift the marketing in a particular direction to appeal to an audience that may not wholly jibe with a cerebral sci-fi film.

In Dune: Part Two, she is one of the main stars, and Warner Bros. makes sure you know that in some of the film’s trailers and one particular piece of key art that features her and star Timothée Chalamet. Dune: Part Two is lighting the box office on fire, and Warner Bros. has sent its new “Brat Pack” out in full force to promote the movie internationally. That pack includes Zendaya, Chalamet, Austin Butler, and Florence Pugh, a young generation of actors destined to be a dominant force in this industry for years to come. Zendaya is a crucial part of that marketing ploy for Dune: Part Two, but, again, she’s an ensemble player, and the film’s success doesn’t weigh on her.

This is why Challengers is a pivotal moment for Zendaya. She has proven herself to be a boss in several areas of the industry already. As a producer, she played a key role in Netflix’s acquisition of Malcolm & Marie for $30 million. As an executive producer on Euphoria, she has helped guide that show to its level of success for HBO. She has been a part of massive global hits that have made her one of the most recognizable and popular actresses in the world, but everyone looks at you a bit differently when the success relies solely on you. However, if Challengers is a hit, you will see Zendaya’s name placed firmly above the marquee. Challengers will be released in theaters on Apr. 26, 2024.