Zendaya’s Steamy New Movie Reportedly Not Releasing This September

Summary Zendaya’s upcoming sports romance film “Challengers” has been delayed from its previous September release date to April 2024.
The film follows three tennis players, including Zendaya’s character, as they compete in a tournament while also exploring a romantic storyline.
The delay is due to the film skipping its planned launch at the Venice Film Festival because of the ongoing actors’ strike. Stay tuned for further updates.
The Zendaya-led sports romance film Challengers is reportedly not releasing in September as previously planned. Challengers follows three tennis players, including Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan, as they compete in a tennis tournament. At the same time, players Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist) compete for Tashi’s heart.
Now, Deadline confirms that Challengers’ release date has moved from September 15, 2023, to April 26, 2024. The new release date comes as Challengers skips its launch at Venice Film Festival on account of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors strike. The report also indicates the film’s date was pushed back because of the strike as well.
How Other Film Releases Have Been Impacted By The Actors Strike
Zendaya’s Challengers isn’t the only movie that’s had its release date pushed back because of the ongoing actor’s strike. The A24 film Problemista starring Julio Torres and Tilda Swinton has also been pulled from its August 4, 2023 release date. Dirty Dancing 2 faced a setback from the strike as well, getting delayed from its February 2024 release to the summer of 2025.
It’s also been reported that Dune: Part Two could be delayed into 2024 alongside Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and The Color Purple because of the ongoing actors and WGA writers strikes. It’s likely other major upcoming releases like Deadpool 3 that haven’t finished filming will face delays from the strikes as well. This means that, while some film dates have been set by recent trailers or reports, there could be plenty of delays as the Hollywood strikes continue.
A key reason why finished films like Challengers are getting delayed is because actors will not be able to promote the movies to the press. This could result in less ticket sales which could impact the film’s box office revenue. It seems Challengers has been pushed from September 2023 to April 2024 in hopes the actors strike will be over by the time the movie is ready for release.
Source: Deadline