‘Challengers’ opens in first place at box office with $15 million

Zendaya, a cast member in “Challengers,” poses at the premiere of the film at the Regency Village Theatre, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

LOS ANGELES – “Challengers” opened in first place at the box office, taking in $15 million this weekend to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

The sexy tennis drama starring Zendaya beat out “Unsung Hero,” a Christian-themed drama about the rock group For King & Country, which opened with $7.7 million, Comscore reported.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” made $7.2 million Friday through Sunday in its fifth week in theaters.

“Civil War” slipped to fourth place after spending its first two weekends in the top spot, grossing $7 million, followed by “Abigail,” which made $5.2 million in its second week.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” ($3.8 million), “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($3.5 million), “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” ($3.2 million), “Dune: Part Two” ($1.9 million) and “Boy Kills World” ($1.67 million).

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $64.5 million. The year-to-date total is $2.006 billion — down 21% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

Zendaya and castmates Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor have been on a globetrotting press tour to get the word out about Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s original film, which opened in 3,477 locations in the US and Canada.

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

Ticket sales from large format screens, including IMAX, made up about 40 percent of the opening weekend grosses. According to PostTrak exit poll reported by Deadline, 55 percent of audiences said they went to see the film because of Zendaya. In fact, this weekend, Zendaya movies accounted for around 26 percent of the overall box office with the re-release of “ Dune: Part Two ” in IMAX, which made nearly $2 million.

The 27-year-old actor has been part of some of the most successful franchises of the last few years, including the “Spider-Man” and “Dune” movies.

The studio had originally planned to release “Challengers” in the fall of 2023, with a picturesque launch at the Venice Film Festival. But when the actors went on strike last July, the studio made the decision to scuttle the festival premiere and move the film to this weekend when they could safely assume the strike would be resolved. (With CNS report)