Box office: Zendaya’s tennis tryst ‘Challengers’ wins the weekend with $15 million

Edward Douglas
·5 min read
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April came to a close with a number of smaller releases, ahead of the start of the summer movie season launching in May, though one movie definitely stood out ahead of the others. Read on for the weekend box office report.

Luca Guadagnino‘s tennis romance, “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, opened in 3,477 theaters on Friday with solid reviews, racking up $1.9 million in previews from Thursday and earlier. After pulling in $6.2 million on Friday (including previews), “Challengers” won the weekend with ease, making an estimated $15 million, and receiving a fair “B+” CinemaScore from audiences polled, as the movie became the talk of social media all weekend. “Challengers” also added another $9 million overseas in 52 markets to bring its global total to $25 million.

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Lionsgate opened “Unsung Hero,” the inspirational story of the Smallbone musical family, co-written, co-directed, and starring Joel Smallbone, as well as Daisy Betts, into 2,832 theaters on Friday. After making $1.7 million in advance previews on Thursday and earlier, the movie made $3.7 million on Friday (including previews) and an estimated $7.8 million for the weekend. As is often the case with faith-based films, it received an “A+” CinemaScore, compared to its mixed reviews.

Third place is going to be a tight race between Warner Bros’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” with $7.2 million (down 25%) and Alex Garland‘s “Civil War” with an estimated $7 million, down 37%. The latest “Godzilla” movie has grossed $181.7 million domestically, as it crosses $500 million globally, but the $56.2 million grossed by “Civil War” makes it A24’s second-highest domestic grossing movie of all time.

Universal’s horror film “Abigail” dropped to fifth place with $5.3 million, down 49% in its second weekend and bringing its total to $18.8 million in North America.

Guy Ritchie‘s ensemble action-comedy “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” added another $3.9 million this weekend to take sixth place, down 57% from its opening weekend. It has grossed $15.5 million in North America so far.

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“Kung Fu Panda 4” continues its run in the top 10 with another $3.6 million (down 23%) for seventh place, bringing its domestic total to $185 million. Globally, the animated sequel crossed the $500 million mark with another $11.7 million in 82 overseas markets for $503 million global.

Two sequels holding onto the top 10 domestically and doing well overseas are Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” and Denis Villeneuve‘s “Dune: Part Two,” taking eighth and ninth place, respectively, with $3.3 million and $2 million. “Ghostbusters” has grossed $107.4 million compared to “Dune’s” $279.7 million, the latter being the highest-grossing movie of 2024 so far. Overseas, “Dune” has fared even better with $424.5 million compared to “Ghostbusters'” $80.6 million, as “Dune” has grossed $704 million globally so far.

Roadside Attractions released the revenge thriller “Boy Kills World,” starring Bill Skarsgård, into 1,993 theaters on Friday, and with a mixed positive 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it ended up making just $1.6 million to end up on the low-end of the top 10. Audiences gave the action movie a “B-” via CinemaScore.

Two major re-releases this weekend, included 20th Century’s 40th anniversary re-release of Ridley Scott‘s “Alien” into 1,750 theaters, where it grossed $1.6 million, while Universal re-released Brendan Fraser‘s “The Mummy” into 1,236 locations for its 25th anniversary, where it made a million, which wasn’t enough for it to get into the top 10. (“Alien” is just slightly behind “Boy Kills World” to break into 10th place.)

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Universal also gave next week’s big movie, “The Fall Guy,” starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, an advanced release into 38 international markets where it made $8.7 million, including $2.9 million in Australia (where the movie filmed).

Most players had “Challengers” winning the weekend with less than $25 million in Gold Derby’s box office prediction game, while second through fourth place were a toss-up between “Civil War,” “Abigail,” and “Unsung Hero.” Only 15 players had “Godzilla” moving back into third place ahead of “Civil War,” so if that sticks when actual box office is announced, there will be very few six-out-of-six scores.

Only two players got perfect scores in the April 19 game with “hotsizzle10” scoring 11,546 points, though a number of other players scored over 50,000 points despite only getting four placements correct.

May and the summer movie season kick off this coming week with the action rom-com “The Fall Guy,” which you can read more about in Wednesday’s weekend preview. On Tuesday, you can also read about other movies being released in May.

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