A few of these movies are rather timely arrivals. For example, Jaws, Shark Tale, and The Shallows are all hitting Peacock with just a few weeks until the 2026 iteration of the popular Shark Week and Wet Hot American Summer arrives just in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its initial release. Another relatively timely addition to Peacock's catalog is Challengers, the critically acclaimed movie from 2024 that tells the story of a complicated relationship involving three tennis players.
Challengers is landing in Peacock's catalog just as Wimbledon has started, which is one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world. In between watching some of the incredible matches, you can check out Challengers for another dose of tennis, with some scandalous drama mixed in for good measure.
Challengers Is A Legitimately Great Sports Movie
For those who missed Challengers when it was first released, they should know that it's a fantastic sports movie. Rather than tell the story of an underdog who rises to the top of their respective sport or be a biopic of some great athlete from history, it's a completely original tale from an accomplished director in Luca Guadagnino. The premise centers on the twisted and complicated relationship between three tennis players who meet when they were teenagers and come back into each other's lives as adults at a major tournament.
Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) were best friends who both become romantically interested in a rising tennis star named Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), while also sharing unexpected romantic interest in each other. The three stay connected through college, with Tashi and Patrick dating casually, only for Art to express his love for Tashi. After Tashi suffers a career-ending ACL injury, she and Art get together and she coaches him into his professional career, where they meet back up with Patrick.
What makes Challengers work for sports fans is how the tennis is showcased. Tashi has a line where she says she just wants to watch some good tennis and the movie gives that to the audience. Guadagnino shoots the matches as if you're on the court with the players, including some shots where the camera is basically the ball. The emotional stakes of all these characters also add to the intensity of it all. The end result is gripping tennis matches surrounded by captivating relationship drama.
Even Non-Sports Fans Can Enjoy Challengers
Not everyone is a sports fan, so that element of a movie can either turn away some viewers or at least make them ignore a film in the genre. However, the best sports movies are always the ones that can grab the attention of someone who doesn't even care about sports. Rocky, Remember the Titans, Moneyball, and A League of Their Own are just several examples of this and Challengers joins that list.
On top of being wildly entertaining, the sports scenes are easy for even the most casual viewers to watch. The film never feels like it's overly explaining anything to you, yet it lays everything out in a way that the audience can totally understand. You don't need to know the full ins and outs of tennis to be fully locked in on the matches. Of course, even beyond that, there's so much for non-tennis fans to enjoy in this movie, starting with the scandalous drama at the center.
Tashi's first private encounter with Patrick and Art sees them all kiss each other, and has a moment where Tashi sits back to watch them share a kiss. You get the sense that she's having fun playing with these two. As they grow older, the relationship becomes more complex, from Patrick and Tashi never being totally serious to Art's feelings for her. Patrick is explained to be a better player than Art, yet Art goes further because of Tashi and because Patrick is his own worst enemy.
That's the kind of compelling stuff that makes a movie that anyone can sink their teeth into. It helps that the actors all do fantastic work. O'Connor continued to show why he's a rising star in Hollywood, Faist gives his best performance outside of West Side Story, and Zendaya is especially excellent. She has to show Tashi as a confident tennis star, as a broken woman who lost her dream due to injury, and as someone caught between two people who mean a lot to her.
Challengers Got Snubbed At The Academy Awards
Challengers was met with widespread acclaim, including holding an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Given the cast (and their performances), the accomplished director, the screenplay, and the score, the film felt like a safe bet to land some major nominations at the Oscars. The movie was also a hit at the Golden Globes, earning nods for Best Picture, Best Actress (Zendaya), Best Original Score, and Best Original Song.
Yet, when the Academy Award nominees came out, Challengers was completely shut out. While it's understandable that competition is stiffer at the Oscars for acting since the Globes have an extra category for different genres, a Best Picture nod felt like a possibility. However, the biggest snub was in the Best Original Score category. Challengers won the Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award in that category, while it was also nominated for a Grammy Award.
The fact that the Oscars didn't even give Challengers a well-earned nomination in that category was a huge surprise. The award ultimately went to The Brutalist with the other nominees being Wicked, The Wild Robot, Emilia Perez, and Conclave. Many believe Challengers should've won and that it, at the very least, deserved a nod over a panned film like Emilia Perez. Regardless, Challengers will go down as a fantastic sports movie and it's one you should check out during the Wimbledon Championships.
Release Date
April 26, 2024
Runtime
131 Minutes
Director
Luca Guadagnino
Writers
Justin Kuritzkes
English (US) ·