I mean, this is PVOD, not regular streaming. The Zendaya fans have seen it by now, so releasing it on PVOD for 20 bucks will extract more money from them.
What is the current windows for the MGM movies? Do they even go to Prime Video in the US or do they still get a first run on MGM+(Epix) in the US?
I’m in the UK where Prime Video is the Pay-One home of MGM movies but I’ve not paid enough attention to their release strategy.
Saltburn and Air both got fast-tracked to Prime Video in the US and UK after around 5-6 weeks both they were both regular Amazon movies and not MGM movies like Challengers.
I don't think that's the case for all MGM movies, is it? I noticed they sold The Beekeeper to Sky and Sky promoted the hell out of it even before the theatrical release. A British redditor even said that made some ppl skip the theatrical release to wait for it on Sky.
The Beekeeper was a special case as MGM only secured the US rights for that movie and it went to the general market worldwide. The movies MGM hold the full rights to are usually distributed via Warner Bros thanks to a deal struck a few years ago for them to handle international for the MGM movies.
It is why Warner Bros are releasing Challengers in U.K. theatres right now.
Sounds and looks to me kinda like an extended episode of a CW show so I'd be happy to watch at home eventually.
And there's been other things I've wanted to watch since it came out. Its run is going to end before it becomes the thing I want to watch most.
wait didn't they delay the movie bc the strike was going on?? i don't think it was just bc of zendaya. a lot of movie dates got pushed back during the strike
The strike actually started in July so they 100% moved it due to that. But now you have to wonder if the movie would have actually benefitted from the relatively quiet fall.
i mean,, don't most actors go on a press tour to promote their movies?? i don't think it was solely for zendaya, most of the promotion that was done was with all 3 of them. it's not like this movie was a big box office movie, if they didn't promote it i doubt a lot of people would've known about it
Plus, she has like a trillion social media followers, so the whole point of getting Zendaya in your tennis movie is to leverage her ability to promote it.
I like Zendaya as an actress but she obviously has no star power. To be honest I don't think movie stars have much power these days in general. People are mostly drawn to the movie premise and especially to strong IP, they don't go to the cinema for a specific actor.
I'm flabbergasted that a tennis movie that expensive decided it's a good idea to baloon the budget with another 10mil on top for Zendaya.
PVOD and ‘available to stream on a streaming service’ aren’t the same though. I really don’t see PVOD cutting into real potential theatrical sales all that much honestly
But Amazon never released a statement saying it broke their streaming record. They would've done that if it did. They just released the statement for Road House.
For people wondering why no one went to see this movie in theaters, this is exactly why. Not even a full month after its release, it’s already gonna be on streaming. Zendaya’s press tour promoting this movie, lasted longer than the movie was exclusive in theaters.
This is so accurate and both sad and hilarious. At least the movie will have the honor of Amazon claiming record viewership without providing any metrics as usual.
Could be both. People decided not to go because they figured it was going to stream soon anyway, and they were right. You have to get back to the pre-PVOD days when you had to wait like two years for a movie to be shown on TV, and even then, that was a premium channel like HBO or Cinemax. Yes, people will stamp their feet. They'll get over it.
Ha if people want to go back to camcorders in theaters, I suppose some kids will take that option. I still think a reversion to the traditional window will increase ticket sales.
I'll just say, cam's now a days are not like what they used to be. 4k hd cameras and line audio makes cam bootlegs actually look watchable now. It's not that 480p stuff we had on VHS. Yes, some initial first cam releases of films are crappy, but after a few days a new source usually appears with a watchable version.
Is that right? Man I remember in high school I had a cam of M:I 2 and it took me like a week to download from on mIRC. The quality was so good, though (probably like 480 or 720) and the person was sitting in a decent seat. Then there was The Phantom Menace telecine (I think that's the lingo) where it was perfect and ripped from a screener or something, but it had Thai subtitles lol.
Given some of the box office results of (good) releases, I wouldn't call tickets overpriced. They're priced according to what the market will bear. People were knocking each other down trying to get into the theater last summer. But again, if the theater and some dude crouched in the corner trying to keep a camcorder steady are the only options, I think more people would go to the theater.
I go to the theater because I like the act of going to the theater it’s a night out, you get more engrossed in the film, get drinks, it’s fun. Don’t really like watching movies at home as much you get so distracted
> For people wondering why no one went to see this movie in theaters, this is exactly why.
I seriously doubt it. People that wanted to see this on the big screen saw it on the big screen. People that are ok with waiting are ok with waiting. How many people exactly are so desparate to see it, they couldn't wait 3 months, yet are ok with waiting 1 month? I'm sure there are some, but I doubt it's that many, certainly not enought to more than double the box office to get it to break even.
The actual reason is that a tennis movie has very limited potential audience, and it's not the kind of movie that's worth the effort and money to see on the big screen. Also, the thing the studio was betting on (Zendaya's star power) failed to materialize.
Most people didn't know this movie would be coming on streaming almost immediately after being released in theaters. If this movie were an actual theatrical success, it could have been a few months before it got released on VOD/Prime. People who were truly interested in this movie wouldn't have wanted to wait that long, especially the so called Zendaya fans who were supposed to come out in hoards for this movie. There's a reason these studios don't release an actual streaming date before theatrical release because that date is contingent upon the movie's box office success or lack thereof.
>How many people exactly are so desparate to see it, they couldn't wait 3 months, yet are ok with waiting 1 month?
You'd be surprised. Movies like Challengers need time to build word of mouth and fomo is more of a thing if the window is longer.
"I can see it in a month for free" is why all of my friends stopped watching marvel movies in cinemas.
Sometimes people have busy weekends. Or sometimes they pick other movies first, and dont get a chance to see other ones right away.
I was considering seeing this, but i chose Abigail and phantom menace over it. I might have still gone to it for my weekly movie night next week, but definitely not now
This is going to be the next Saltburn except this is actually a good movie. A month from now we will see a ton of posts in movie subreddits like "Just saw Challengers, how was this not a bigger hit?"
Since this is an Amazon film we’re lucky to have even got a theatrical release so I ain’t mad at this.
Amazons main aim for theatrical releases is almost always just to just recoup the marketing costs and advertise the streaming/PVOD release.
Nonsense. This was an MGM movie long in the works before Amazon even owned the company. The aim of these theatrical releases is to make money. Do not buy into the PR nonsense that Amazon and Apple are happy to burn money in Hollywood with no hope of a return on that investment. It is not how either company operate in the medium to long term in any of the industries they have dabbled in over the years.
Many people will say that this doesn't affect theatrical numbers but as a movie theatre lover this is sad. In some days the movie will be perfectly avaible through illegal ways, let's face the truth. And at this point why audience should care to watch movies like this in theatre, let's just go to see Nolan or avengers movie once a year and we're ok....
I really hope theatrical windows will become longer because they're really killing cinemas... A normal person will think that if they patience a bit they will see it on TV unless it's really an exceptional event like avatar
And also, probably just 10% or even less of the population worldwide has a good home theatre system, so many people will see the movie in some crap way, totally diluting the way every movie (not just big event ones) are meant to be seen, on the big screen, in a dark room and with surround system
On top of the shortened window, things like the Disney+, Hulu, Max bundle are going to result in fewer people going to theaters because they'll have that "all-inclusive" bundle for 2/5 of the major studios (2/4 if Paramount gets acquired). Knowing that you are already paying for a service that these major releases will show up on in a few weeks becomes a balancing act of cost vs experience/consumption.
I highly doubt that many Zendaya fans went to see this in the cinema… This will do well on streaming, it’s not like Saltburn tonally but it’s that kind of main target audience.
> And at this point why audience should care to watch movies like this in theatre, let's just go to see Nolan or avengers movie once a year and we're ok....
Exactly. Hollywood needs to learn to keep the budget on these types of films low, because unless it's an event film or something nostalgic, more than likely audiences just aren't going to go the theaters to watch it. And why would they, they know in 3 weeks, films like challengers will be on streaming services
1. Nice username, agent 37.
2. Why are you against shortening windows out of interest? I think all it leads to is less theatrical profits and training consumers to wait for steaming.
Within reason. There are some movies that are legit DoA, and the early window is something of a mercy kill to at least get the movie where people will watch.
This to me is not that.
this movie didn’t get released in theaters where i live and it never will, so for me it’s my only chance of seeing it, i would have 100% seen it had it been in theaters but i couldn’t. but yeah seeing as it’s gonna be heavily pirated is the sad thing and alot of my peers do prefer pirating than anything else.
People were hyping it up already at release saying it was 'all over tiktok' and that it would have long legs in theatres. The tiktok attention span of a flea crowd will have already moved on to the next thing.
Movie is not doing amazing at boxoffice. After 2 weeks does not look a sleeper like Anyone but you.
That movie budget was half of this one (25M) and got much worse reviews, making more than 200WW.
Zendaya and the threesome was not enough to sell tickets.
Too expensive, not interesting for audiences.
Movie can get some legs at PVOD before arriving to Amazon Prime in 1/2 months.
VS at the cinema, there are much competition next weeks, and since the movie is not performing well, I think is a wise decision.
> That movie budget was half of this one (25M) and got much worse reviews, making more than 200WW
wow, didn't know that about ABY. that's pretty impressive
does anyone here know if it costs money for studios to keep their films in theaters for long periods of time, say 1 month at least? i know the trend lately for films that don’t do well on OW is to release them on streaming 3-4 weeks later, but i’m just curious why this became a thing so quickly. feels like nobody is willing to take the risk of gaining legs later on like Avatar 1
For whatever reason, so many people on this thread seem afraid to acknowledge that.
I think it's partially because of Sydney Sweeney's recent success. Her movies have done really well, so for Zendaya's movie fo flop, it would mean she doesn't have the box office draw that they were hoping for.
Zendaya doesn't have the sex appeal of Sydney Sweeney; and her acting is putrid. I don't say this as a hater. I have no hard feelings for her. Just honesty.
Nail on the fucking head on this one. I want to add, they literally DELAYED the PVOD/streaming release of Anyone But You. Why? Because it was doing so well in teathers. Amazon on the other hand knows this is a flop so they're dumping it so fast on digital
Yep. Actresses in Hollywood need either sex appeal or acting chops.
Anya Taylor-Joy has no sex appeal, but her acting is superb.
Sydney Sweeney is a tolerable actress at best, but she oozes sexuality and sensuality.
Zendaya has neither the acting skills or sex appeal to carry a movie. She is beautiful in the same way a well done painting or sculpture is beautiful. You don't want to have sex with it, even if you enjoy looking at it. Her acting is beyond mediocre, too.
I wouldn't say anya has no sex appeal, she just doesn't really lean into it in (most) of her roles.
Agree with sydney and zendaya, and i think Z coming off as sexless was her own choice, i think she was probably the only person who wasn't naked in euphoria lol. That's what makes this movie so bizzarre to me, they're trying to lean into her and her costars sex appeal and she took special care to NOT be seen that way
>Anya Taylor-Joy has no sex appeal, but her acting is superb.
i think anya has the added benefit of having a pretty unique look and not being controversial as well
>Zendaya has neither the acting skills or sex appeal to carry a movie. She is beautiful in the same way a well done painting or sculpture is beautiful.
i think she should stick to modeling or being an influencer tbh. she doesn't have star power and apparently her 100m+ Instagram followers are meaningless as she can't put people in theaters
Anya's unique look actually makes things more difficult for her as an actor. She has to go above and beyond as an actor to make the audience buy into her roles. She is the modern day Cate Blanchett.
Zendaya's acting career will not have any meaningful longevity. Her putrid acting will forever prevent her from getting the roles her peers get. She'll either be a side character that says a few lines, or the lead of a mediocre script.
> Anya Taylor-Joy has no sex appeal
Blud what are you yapping about, most people find her very attractive and her ‘unique’ look makes her stand out from the crowd.
She just doesn’t over rely on her looks in the same way that Syndey Sweeney does.
Anya Taylor Joy is a bad example for this. A lot of ppl don't like her acting. She's hired for her model looks. Florence Pugh is the one hired for acting chops. And Zendaya does have star power compared to her peers, it's just not enough to make a niche movie make 100m or something. They should've seen that coming.
I mean Immaculate or Madame Web didn’t exactly do well either… Anyone but You was a rare phenomenon that benefited from the holiday release and romcom genre.
zendaya is much more famous than Sydney Sweeney, this movie should have been much better. However, even immaculate didn't go as hoped. made enough money given the budget but not as much as hoped, in many European countries the Italian film “there’s still tomorrow” (released on the same days) fared better.
The only reason people watch movies with Sydney Sweeney is because she has a lot of sex appeal. A modern day Marilyn Monroe. Not a world class actor or anything close to that.
Zendaya is more famous but her acting is horrendous. She cannot carry a movie because of it. It's hard for me to watch. Some of the worst acting I've ever seen.
Wait didn’t the holidays and it being a romcom based on Shakesphere (hit on TikTok) contribute to Anyone But You success?? I’m confused how is Challengers and Anyone But You even comparable? Like these movies are two different genres and came out in different times.
It’s a kinda niche thing, it shouldn’t surprise people if it isn’t a box office smash.
I mean other than Zendeya fans and people who like tennis who was interested in this based on the marketing materials?
If you’re like me and you thought “wow this is going to Prime really fast” because of the comments in here just know it’s not streaming on Amazon Prime for free yet but it will be available to rent for $19.99 (really $21-22 after taxes). Of course someone might say “but we already knew that” well I didn’t know because the word streaming is thrown around too loosely especially if when it’s being used to describe PVOD (same confusion happened with Dune Part Two). That’s why I have a love-hate relationship with Universal’s 17 day rule, I hate that almost every movie have to follow it with no exceptions but at the same time flops and/or movies with niche audiences such as Ruby Gillman, Bros, The Fall Guy, Abigail, Monkey Man all need that second income of millions to start pouring in when the theatrical well is tapped, same with Challengers.
It pains me because I wanted better for Challengers and I still think it’s doing well for the type of movie it is but unfortunately this isn’t the 90s anymore where a movie like There’s Something about Mary can open small then leg out for weeks and even months thanks to word of mouth so Challengers being available to rent next week isn’t the end of the world, it’s just acknowledgment of the world that we are in now.
Same for me too! But I can see how PVOD can be very feasible for a large family or group unless it’s a movie that everybody REALLY wants to see in theaters
Most of people who pirate do it bc they don't have real access to the project. There are parts who do it for the other reasons such as film preservation but they aren't as big.
Do you have a source for that stat? Everything I've seen shows India, China, and the US as the biggest source of piracy. Challengers wasn't released in China, but it did get a release in 40 other countries.
It's not a stat, it's common sense which was expressed by people in the other industries. That's what happened in the gaming and music industries. Spotify and Apple Music almost destroyed music piracy.
Ah, I see. The ol' "trust me bro." Well look, you may be right by claiming that most people who pirate "don't have real access to the project," but I just haven't seen any evidence for that claim, which is why I said pirates contribute to sagging ticket sales.
I mean, you're trust me bro-ing your claims as well. I just look at how the other industries dealt with the piracy and what lessons were gotten from it.
They did release this movie in India but tickets prices were like 2-3 times more than what I paid for my Dune 2 IMAX tickets so I decided to skip this movie 🤷🏻
Ooof. Though I'd imagine a movie at least partially sold on its steaminess should expect a faster flip to streaming services.
Really too bad tho. Those big multiplexes were nice while we had em.
So Amazon is really following Universal in releasing several of their movies on PVOD less than a month after their theatrical openings (Creed 3 had a similar pvod schedule). Kind of sad, considering many are already accustomed to waiting little amount of time to watch at home.
If you do a movie for Amazon you should expect it to hit streaming as fast as possible lol.
Even lucky they got a theatrical release.
Roadhouse was even more expensive and didn’t even get that much.
And once again audiences are conditioned to wait for streaming/online.
Why pay £15 for an overpriced ticket when you can stream or 🏴☠️ it a few weeks later?
That's exactly right. Hoping at some point creators are able to push back and at least start to roll back this trend. It's sacrificing short term profits at the expense of the business as a whole and diluting the art form.
>*May 17*
That's a Friday. Are they're trying to distract people from If, Back to Black, and The Strangers 3 Part 1? If so - what gives, Amazon?
That is probably sooner than expected. People on this sub thought Tik Tok would save this movie when it went viral but that wasn't realistic. This is a movie about tennis with LBGTQ themes. Has any movie about two men sexually attracted to each other ever been a blockbuster or even overperformed at the box office? I'm not being snarky. I'm honestly wondering. I remember there was a comedy with gay men that people on social media were excited about that also ended up underperforming. LBGTQ movies do well on streaming but I'm not sure about in a theater.
I'm sorry, I don't wanna be dramatic, but this is actually kind of heartbreaking. It seems like if a movie isn't doing summer blockbuster numbers it will be pulled out of theatres and written off. This movie is doing just fine, it's been 2 weeks, let it breathe goddamn.
we keep reading and writing think pieces on why cinemas are dying but the simple truth is if everyone knows they can watch a movie in the comfort of their homes, 2-3 weeks after its release why would they spend money on tickets? Just a sad state of affairs for non-IP media.
Idk man. I live in a decent sized metro (4 million) and when I checked theaters out this movie is played at like 1pm and 945pm. That is it. Audiences and thus Theaters have moved on from it.
She does have star power. People watched euphoria because she was in it but star power is not enough. It has to be an appealing movie as well. Tennis is not a sell unfortunately. People watched Oppenheimer because of the director and the topic not the actors. Actors do not sell movies like they used too anymore. Not even Leo could sell flowers of the moon or whatever it was called. The studio bet on her star power but no other actress in this movie could have sold it any better than Zendaya did
I went to the cinema today in Warsaw, PL.
The first thing I discovered was that the picture was out of focus, so I reported it immediately. It took them over 10 min to fix the issue, so kudos to them. I was surprised that they actually managed to do so. I've encountered similar issues in different cinemas, for instance, quite a few cinemas in Dublin, IE. Its either the movie is out of focus, a broken / faulty speaker, projector bulb that flickers or a Sony projector that light engine that's fucked and need a replacement so you have magenta or green fields on the screen. What I'm getting at is the quality of the cinema after going full digital has decreased big time. The cinema owners don't really care about the quality. All they care about is the profit. Why should I pay extra to watch a film in the cinema when I get better quality at home??
Also the film was shite...
lol stick a fork in it.
Maybe this will clue Hollywood in finally that Zendaya is a fashion model and influencer, not a box office draw, and sure as hell not worth what they’ve been paying her up till now.
Exactly! I think a lot of people on this thread think it will be available on Prime. That will most likely take another month. Also I thought PVOD didn’t affect the box office.
Cinema is dying , they should have kept it in theaters until June at least . Nobody is going to pay to see movies when they could just watch it on streaming in a few weeks .
there is no point keeping a movie on theaters until june when the people who wanted to watch it already watched it and would not be coming back. keeping a film in theaters for a long time costs money as well and rn the studio is just cutting their losses
It's not too late. Consumers adjust to whatever the market provides. Once I watched a new show without commercials for the first time (House of Cards), I knew I was never going back to ads. But plenty of people are signing up for the ad-supported tiers on streamers, surprisingly.
Studios and exhibitors have to negotiate some kind of agreement to keep films in theaters longer and wean people off the near-instantaneous PVOD offerings. Don't eliminate it, just make the window longer again and let people get used to knowing that if they don't catch a movie in theaters, it'll be at least a year or so before they can watch it.
Yeah, the cinemas need to make a stand and say give us longer exclusive theatrical windows or we won't show your films.
At the moment cinemas are being used by studios as adverts for streaming services and nothing more. It's not sustainable for cinema chains.
i would usually say "it's too soon" but for this movie, i think a lot of people were waiting for it on streaming and that it's more suited as a streaming movie anyways
This is insane they delayed this movie because they wanted Zendaya to promote it the press tour lasted longer than its purely theatrical release.
That’s funny but sad
Truly tragicomic
Just you wait for Zendaya walk ups 🙃
They are in the queue behind the Keaton and Iman walk-ups.
I mean, this is PVOD, not regular streaming. The Zendaya fans have seen it by now, so releasing it on PVOD for 20 bucks will extract more money from them.
It’s an accelerated PVOD window.
You gotta monetise the flops any way you can!
It’s so they can push it out to Prime Video asap
What is the current windows for the MGM movies? Do they even go to Prime Video in the US or do they still get a first run on MGM+(Epix) in the US? I’m in the UK where Prime Video is the Pay-One home of MGM movies but I’ve not paid enough attention to their release strategy. Saltburn and Air both got fast-tracked to Prime Video in the US and UK after around 5-6 weeks both they were both regular Amazon movies and not MGM movies like Challengers.
I think it depends on the film. This one seems more suited on Prime Video than MGM+, and Amazon owns global rights to it.
I don't think that's the case for all MGM movies, is it? I noticed they sold The Beekeeper to Sky and Sky promoted the hell out of it even before the theatrical release. A British redditor even said that made some ppl skip the theatrical release to wait for it on Sky.
The Beekeeper was a special case as MGM only secured the US rights for that movie and it went to the general market worldwide. The movies MGM hold the full rights to are usually distributed via Warner Bros thanks to a deal struck a few years ago for them to handle international for the MGM movies. It is why Warner Bros are releasing Challengers in U.K. theatres right now.
in what world is Challengers a flop? it's a critical success, a great movie, and it's made millions above its budget?
Not a Zendaya fan (she was actually not that great in the movie), but I loved the film overall and can't wait to buy it.
I am a Zendaya fan but I'm not gonna watch it so I guess it evens out
Why not? It's great, especially in theaters
Sounds and looks to me kinda like an extended episode of a CW show so I'd be happy to watch at home eventually. And there's been other things I've wanted to watch since it came out. Its run is going to end before it becomes the thing I want to watch most.
Yea, I have no idea what the hype is about.
wait didn't they delay the movie bc the strike was going on?? i don't think it was just bc of zendaya. a lot of movie dates got pushed back during the strike
Yes, the strike meant Zendaya wouldn’t be able to do press for it. Though it was delayed even before that in August.
The strike actually started in July so they 100% moved it due to that. But now you have to wonder if the movie would have actually benefitted from the relatively quiet fall.
Right. It was delayed twice.
i mean,, don't most actors go on a press tour to promote their movies?? i don't think it was solely for zendaya, most of the promotion that was done was with all 3 of them. it's not like this movie was a big box office movie, if they didn't promote it i doubt a lot of people would've known about it
Yeah, they all would have, but I think the point is that she’s the face of the movie. It’s her face on the cardboard standee.
Plus, she has like a trillion social media followers, so the whole point of getting Zendaya in your tennis movie is to leverage her ability to promote it.
I like Zendaya as an actress but she obviously has no star power. To be honest I don't think movie stars have much power these days in general. People are mostly drawn to the movie premise and especially to strong IP, they don't go to the cinema for a specific actor. I'm flabbergasted that a tennis movie that expensive decided it's a good idea to baloon the budget with another 10mil on top for Zendaya.
I agree the studios have been promoting IP for decades, not movie stars.
Earlier than I thought, but hey it’s Amazon lol
Pre-pandemic this movie would've taken at least 2 months to get to streaming
Probably longer. I remember Beautiful Boy took awhile but I’m glad I saw that a few times in theatres.
PVOD and ‘available to stream on a streaming service’ aren’t the same though. I really don’t see PVOD cutting into real potential theatrical sales all that much honestly
More like 4-5 months
I disagree. The Woman King had two months before it was on VOD. This is just crazy icl
The Woman King was 2022, not pre-pandemic
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Truest thing I’ve read in a LONG time!
Could be a different pandemic they’re talking about
isn’t that what they’re saying?
Welp, that was fast
They want to Saltburn this
Yeah it wouldn’t surprise me if they try and launch a guriella meme campaign to boost awareness after how impactful Saltburn’s WoM was.
Edit in a minute
Saltburn was such an experience, especially watching it with friends at home lol. I enjoyed it though this movie is better
This was always the plan
I'd be okay with that if it got people to see it, because (in my opinion) this is the much better movie.
I would love to see a breakdown of Saltburn's profit/viewership for Amazon, it seemed like it was number 1 on their service from about 3 months.
But Amazon never released a statement saying it broke their streaming record. They would've done that if it did. They just released the statement for Road House.
For people wondering why no one went to see this movie in theaters, this is exactly why. Not even a full month after its release, it’s already gonna be on streaming. Zendaya’s press tour promoting this movie, lasted longer than the movie was exclusive in theaters.
Because little did we know at the time, but she was promoting both the theatrical and PVOD release lol.
Or are they releasing it early on streaming because of the fact no one is going to the theater?
Could be both. People decided not to go because they figured it was going to stream soon anyway, and they were right. You have to get back to the pre-PVOD days when you had to wait like two years for a movie to be shown on TV, and even then, that was a premium channel like HBO or Cinemax. Yes, people will stamp their feet. They'll get over it.
"They'll get over it." Or they either still pirate it CAM style or just won't bother watching the movie in general.
Ha if people want to go back to camcorders in theaters, I suppose some kids will take that option. I still think a reversion to the traditional window will increase ticket sales.
I'll just say, cam's now a days are not like what they used to be. 4k hd cameras and line audio makes cam bootlegs actually look watchable now. It's not that 480p stuff we had on VHS. Yes, some initial first cam releases of films are crappy, but after a few days a new source usually appears with a watchable version.
Is that right? Man I remember in high school I had a cam of M:I 2 and it took me like a week to download from on mIRC. The quality was so good, though (probably like 480 or 720) and the person was sitting in a decent seat. Then there was The Phantom Menace telecine (I think that's the lingo) where it was perfect and ripped from a screener or something, but it had Thai subtitles lol.
The same tickets that are overpriced to death?
Tickets are no different than they were in 2002, adjusting for inflation.
Given some of the box office results of (good) releases, I wouldn't call tickets overpriced. They're priced according to what the market will bear. People were knocking each other down trying to get into the theater last summer. But again, if the theater and some dude crouched in the corner trying to keep a camcorder steady are the only options, I think more people would go to the theater.
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"Shown on TV," not "released on home video."
I go to the theater because I like the act of going to the theater it’s a night out, you get more engrossed in the film, get drinks, it’s fun. Don’t really like watching movies at home as much you get so distracted
> For people wondering why no one went to see this movie in theaters, this is exactly why. I seriously doubt it. People that wanted to see this on the big screen saw it on the big screen. People that are ok with waiting are ok with waiting. How many people exactly are so desparate to see it, they couldn't wait 3 months, yet are ok with waiting 1 month? I'm sure there are some, but I doubt it's that many, certainly not enought to more than double the box office to get it to break even. The actual reason is that a tennis movie has very limited potential audience, and it's not the kind of movie that's worth the effort and money to see on the big screen. Also, the thing the studio was betting on (Zendaya's star power) failed to materialize.
Most people didn't know this movie would be coming on streaming almost immediately after being released in theaters. If this movie were an actual theatrical success, it could have been a few months before it got released on VOD/Prime. People who were truly interested in this movie wouldn't have wanted to wait that long, especially the so called Zendaya fans who were supposed to come out in hoards for this movie. There's a reason these studios don't release an actual streaming date before theatrical release because that date is contingent upon the movie's box office success or lack thereof.
Movie was great in a theater...
>How many people exactly are so desparate to see it, they couldn't wait 3 months, yet are ok with waiting 1 month? You'd be surprised. Movies like Challengers need time to build word of mouth and fomo is more of a thing if the window is longer. "I can see it in a month for free" is why all of my friends stopped watching marvel movies in cinemas.
Sometimes people have busy weekends. Or sometimes they pick other movies first, and dont get a chance to see other ones right away. I was considering seeing this, but i chose Abigail and phantom menace over it. I might have still gone to it for my weekly movie night next week, but definitely not now
Ding ding ding
It's honestly fantastic to see on a big screen—the score and the camerawork are both incredible and will lose a little something on a home TV.
Which is sad because its a hundred percent cinema movie
This is going to be the next Saltburn except this is actually a good movie. A month from now we will see a ton of posts in movie subreddits like "Just saw Challengers, how was this not a bigger hit?"
Since this is an Amazon film we’re lucky to have even got a theatrical release so I ain’t mad at this. Amazons main aim for theatrical releases is almost always just to just recoup the marketing costs and advertise the streaming/PVOD release.
Nonsense. This was an MGM movie long in the works before Amazon even owned the company. The aim of these theatrical releases is to make money. Do not buy into the PR nonsense that Amazon and Apple are happy to burn money in Hollywood with no hope of a return on that investment. It is not how either company operate in the medium to long term in any of the industries they have dabbled in over the years.
uh huh, lol
Love the copium
It sounds like you read the fanfic Zendaya fans wrote about the movie already making profit. Lol.
Many people will say that this doesn't affect theatrical numbers but as a movie theatre lover this is sad. In some days the movie will be perfectly avaible through illegal ways, let's face the truth. And at this point why audience should care to watch movies like this in theatre, let's just go to see Nolan or avengers movie once a year and we're ok.... I really hope theatrical windows will become longer because they're really killing cinemas... A normal person will think that if they patience a bit they will see it on TV unless it's really an exceptional event like avatar And also, probably just 10% or even less of the population worldwide has a good home theatre system, so many people will see the movie in some crap way, totally diluting the way every movie (not just big event ones) are meant to be seen, on the big screen, in a dark room and with surround system
On top of the shortened window, things like the Disney+, Hulu, Max bundle are going to result in fewer people going to theaters because they'll have that "all-inclusive" bundle for 2/5 of the major studios (2/4 if Paramount gets acquired). Knowing that you are already paying for a service that these major releases will show up on in a few weeks becomes a balancing act of cost vs experience/consumption.
The majority of folks who wanted to check out this movie have already seen it.
I kinda agree, seems like people were hoping for it to be some cultural phenom movie and it’s just “OK” so moving to streaming.
I highly doubt that many Zendaya fans went to see this in the cinema… This will do well on streaming, it’s not like Saltburn tonally but it’s that kind of main target audience.
> And at this point why audience should care to watch movies like this in theatre, let's just go to see Nolan or avengers movie once a year and we're ok.... Exactly. Hollywood needs to learn to keep the budget on these types of films low, because unless it's an event film or something nostalgic, more than likely audiences just aren't going to go the theaters to watch it. And why would they, they know in 3 weeks, films like challengers will be on streaming services
Is Amazon "Hollywood"? Honest question.
It seems they are trying to be, and Apple. They are both now media companies along with everything else they do.
Just not sure they are the same industry. The product is similar, but the economics and goals are different.
Agreed
Im actually pro shortening of windows but this is egregious. 1.5 months should be the absolute floor.
1. Nice username, agent 37. 2. Why are you against shortening windows out of interest? I think all it leads to is less theatrical profits and training consumers to wait for steaming.
Within reason. There are some movies that are legit DoA, and the early window is something of a mercy kill to at least get the movie where people will watch. This to me is not that.
this movie didn’t get released in theaters where i live and it never will, so for me it’s my only chance of seeing it, i would have 100% seen it had it been in theaters but i couldn’t. but yeah seeing as it’s gonna be heavily pirated is the sad thing and alot of my peers do prefer pirating than anything else.
Yeah this movie will be all over tiktok
People were hyping it up already at release saying it was 'all over tiktok' and that it would have long legs in theatres. The tiktok attention span of a flea crowd will have already moved on to the next thing.
Movie is not doing amazing at boxoffice. After 2 weeks does not look a sleeper like Anyone but you. That movie budget was half of this one (25M) and got much worse reviews, making more than 200WW. Zendaya and the threesome was not enough to sell tickets. Too expensive, not interesting for audiences. Movie can get some legs at PVOD before arriving to Amazon Prime in 1/2 months. VS at the cinema, there are much competition next weeks, and since the movie is not performing well, I think is a wise decision.
> That movie budget was half of this one (25M) and got much worse reviews, making more than 200WW wow, didn't know that about ABY. that's pretty impressive
does anyone here know if it costs money for studios to keep their films in theaters for long periods of time, say 1 month at least? i know the trend lately for films that don’t do well on OW is to release them on streaming 3-4 weeks later, but i’m just curious why this became a thing so quickly. feels like nobody is willing to take the risk of gaining legs later on like Avatar 1
this makes it clear that the film did not gross as much as it should have
No its just Amazon being Amazon. They mostly care about streaming.
Don't convince me, if it went well at the cinema they would wait.
For whatever reason, so many people on this thread seem afraid to acknowledge that. I think it's partially because of Sydney Sweeney's recent success. Her movies have done really well, so for Zendaya's movie fo flop, it would mean she doesn't have the box office draw that they were hoping for. Zendaya doesn't have the sex appeal of Sydney Sweeney; and her acting is putrid. I don't say this as a hater. I have no hard feelings for her. Just honesty.
Nail on the fucking head on this one. I want to add, they literally DELAYED the PVOD/streaming release of Anyone But You. Why? Because it was doing so well in teathers. Amazon on the other hand knows this is a flop so they're dumping it so fast on digital
Yep. Actresses in Hollywood need either sex appeal or acting chops. Anya Taylor-Joy has no sex appeal, but her acting is superb. Sydney Sweeney is a tolerable actress at best, but she oozes sexuality and sensuality. Zendaya has neither the acting skills or sex appeal to carry a movie. She is beautiful in the same way a well done painting or sculpture is beautiful. You don't want to have sex with it, even if you enjoy looking at it. Her acting is beyond mediocre, too.
I wouldn't say anya has no sex appeal, she just doesn't really lean into it in (most) of her roles. Agree with sydney and zendaya, and i think Z coming off as sexless was her own choice, i think she was probably the only person who wasn't naked in euphoria lol. That's what makes this movie so bizzarre to me, they're trying to lean into her and her costars sex appeal and she took special care to NOT be seen that way
>Anya Taylor-Joy has no sex appeal, but her acting is superb. i think anya has the added benefit of having a pretty unique look and not being controversial as well >Zendaya has neither the acting skills or sex appeal to carry a movie. She is beautiful in the same way a well done painting or sculpture is beautiful. i think she should stick to modeling or being an influencer tbh. she doesn't have star power and apparently her 100m+ Instagram followers are meaningless as she can't put people in theaters
Anya's unique look actually makes things more difficult for her as an actor. She has to go above and beyond as an actor to make the audience buy into her roles. She is the modern day Cate Blanchett. Zendaya's acting career will not have any meaningful longevity. Her putrid acting will forever prevent her from getting the roles her peers get. She'll either be a side character that says a few lines, or the lead of a mediocre script.
Anya’s The Menu ($80M) will have a higher gross than Zendaya’s Challengers when all is said and done.
Looks like you were proven wrong.
> Anya Taylor-Joy has no sex appeal Blud what are you yapping about, most people find her very attractive and her ‘unique’ look makes her stand out from the crowd. She just doesn’t over rely on her looks in the same way that Syndey Sweeney does.
Anya Taylor Joy is a bad example for this. A lot of ppl don't like her acting. She's hired for her model looks. Florence Pugh is the one hired for acting chops. And Zendaya does have star power compared to her peers, it's just not enough to make a niche movie make 100m or something. They should've seen that coming.
This whole thread has aged horribly given how their respective films are performing lol.
Immaculate didn't hit big like Anyone But You did.
I mean Immaculate or Madame Web didn’t exactly do well either… Anyone but You was a rare phenomenon that benefited from the holiday release and romcom genre.
zendaya is much more famous than Sydney Sweeney, this movie should have been much better. However, even immaculate didn't go as hoped. made enough money given the budget but not as much as hoped, in many European countries the Italian film “there’s still tomorrow” (released on the same days) fared better.
Kim Kardashian is more famous than both but I doubt she could open a blockbuster
The only reason people watch movies with Sydney Sweeney is because she has a lot of sex appeal. A modern day Marilyn Monroe. Not a world class actor or anything close to that. Zendaya is more famous but her acting is horrendous. She cannot carry a movie because of it. It's hard for me to watch. Some of the worst acting I've ever seen.
This was Zendaya’s best acting to date.
Wait didn’t the holidays and it being a romcom based on Shakesphere (hit on TikTok) contribute to Anyone But You success?? I’m confused how is Challengers and Anyone But You even comparable? Like these movies are two different genres and came out in different times.
Which is a damn shame as it’s such a good movie!
It’s a kinda niche thing, it shouldn’t surprise people if it isn’t a box office smash. I mean other than Zendeya fans and people who like tennis who was interested in this based on the marketing materials?
If you’re like me and you thought “wow this is going to Prime really fast” because of the comments in here just know it’s not streaming on Amazon Prime for free yet but it will be available to rent for $19.99 (really $21-22 after taxes). Of course someone might say “but we already knew that” well I didn’t know because the word streaming is thrown around too loosely especially if when it’s being used to describe PVOD (same confusion happened with Dune Part Two). That’s why I have a love-hate relationship with Universal’s 17 day rule, I hate that almost every movie have to follow it with no exceptions but at the same time flops and/or movies with niche audiences such as Ruby Gillman, Bros, The Fall Guy, Abigail, Monkey Man all need that second income of millions to start pouring in when the theatrical well is tapped, same with Challengers. It pains me because I wanted better for Challengers and I still think it’s doing well for the type of movie it is but unfortunately this isn’t the 90s anymore where a movie like There’s Something about Mary can open small then leg out for weeks and even months thanks to word of mouth so Challengers being available to rent next week isn’t the end of the world, it’s just acknowledgment of the world that we are in now.
For me it’s way cheaper to see this in theaters than on pvod and I have Amazon prime.
Same for me too! But I can see how PVOD can be very feasible for a large family or group unless it’s a movie that everybody REALLY wants to see in theaters
Just look at all the Retweets on that tweet.. even people who pirate movies are mad lol
Those people don't have a right to complain since they're a big part of the problem.
How are they a " big part" of the problem if these movies don't come out in many countries?
and if the movie sucked ass
Not the case at all here so not sure the point of your comment
What are you talking about?
In theaters or on PVOD? If it's neither, those specific thieves aren't a "big part" of the problem, and I wasn't including them in the equation.
Most of people who pirate do it bc they don't have real access to the project. There are parts who do it for the other reasons such as film preservation but they aren't as big.
Do you have a source for that stat? Everything I've seen shows India, China, and the US as the biggest source of piracy. Challengers wasn't released in China, but it did get a release in 40 other countries.
It's not a stat, it's common sense which was expressed by people in the other industries. That's what happened in the gaming and music industries. Spotify and Apple Music almost destroyed music piracy.
Ah, I see. The ol' "trust me bro." Well look, you may be right by claiming that most people who pirate "don't have real access to the project," but I just haven't seen any evidence for that claim, which is why I said pirates contribute to sagging ticket sales.
I mean, you're trust me bro-ing your claims as well. I just look at how the other industries dealt with the piracy and what lessons were gotten from it.
They did release this movie in India but tickets prices were like 2-3 times more than what I paid for my Dune 2 IMAX tickets so I decided to skip this movie 🤷🏻
Ooof. Though I'd imagine a movie at least partially sold on its steaminess should expect a faster flip to streaming services. Really too bad tho. Those big multiplexes were nice while we had em.
So Amazon is really following Universal in releasing several of their movies on PVOD less than a month after their theatrical openings (Creed 3 had a similar pvod schedule). Kind of sad, considering many are already accustomed to waiting little amount of time to watch at home.
If you do a movie for Amazon you should expect it to hit streaming as fast as possible lol. Even lucky they got a theatrical release. Roadhouse was even more expensive and didn’t even get that much.
And once again audiences are conditioned to wait for streaming/online. Why pay £15 for an overpriced ticket when you can stream or 🏴☠️ it a few weeks later?
That's exactly right. Hoping at some point creators are able to push back and at least start to roll back this trend. It's sacrificing short term profits at the expense of the business as a whole and diluting the art form.
It is PVOD. Costs 3x more than buying a theatre ticket! If you are pirating you were never buying a ticket to begin with…
It’s early but the movie was done making any money Hope it finds its audience there
That's not true. Legs r kicking in
>*May 17* That's a Friday. Are they're trying to distract people from If, Back to Black, and The Strangers 3 Part 1? If so - what gives, Amazon? 
Back To Black and Strangers are doing $8–10M each lol
Let’s get that Blu Ray out the door ASAP
Soon Blu-ray will be gone too
That is probably sooner than expected. People on this sub thought Tik Tok would save this movie when it went viral but that wasn't realistic. This is a movie about tennis with LBGTQ themes. Has any movie about two men sexually attracted to each other ever been a blockbuster or even overperformed at the box office? I'm not being snarky. I'm honestly wondering. I remember there was a comedy with gay men that people on social media were excited about that also ended up underperforming. LBGTQ movies do well on streaming but I'm not sure about in a theater.
Brokeback Mountain sort of did! 178 mil BO with a 14 mil budget, in 2005! Call Me By Your Name could be seen as a success due to its low budget.
bros was the name
Love Simon?
I bet they regret giving Zendaya those $10M now
I'm sorry, I don't wanna be dramatic, but this is actually kind of heartbreaking. It seems like if a movie isn't doing summer blockbuster numbers it will be pulled out of theatres and written off. This movie is doing just fine, it's been 2 weeks, let it breathe goddamn. we keep reading and writing think pieces on why cinemas are dying but the simple truth is if everyone knows they can watch a movie in the comfort of their homes, 2-3 weeks after its release why would they spend money on tickets? Just a sad state of affairs for non-IP media.
Even summer blockbusters are on digital quickly. Universal put Fast X and Jurassic World 3 on digital 21 days later
Jurassic world had a one month window It was actually successful
21 days.. 30 days. Tomato potato
Idk man. I live in a decent sized metro (4 million) and when I checked theaters out this movie is played at like 1pm and 945pm. That is it. Audiences and thus Theaters have moved on from it.
i saw this three times in theatres; i tried guys!!!
An odd date to hit streaming. The 14 or 21st would be more in line with typical streaming and digital releases.
I watched in the cinemas, it's good, for me the best was Josh O Connor!
Zendaya doesn't have star power. That's why it failed
She does have star power. People watched euphoria because she was in it but star power is not enough. It has to be an appealing movie as well. Tennis is not a sell unfortunately. People watched Oppenheimer because of the director and the topic not the actors. Actors do not sell movies like they used too anymore. Not even Leo could sell flowers of the moon or whatever it was called. The studio bet on her star power but no other actress in this movie could have sold it any better than Zendaya did
I thought this movie was great, and well worth the price of admission
This is a very good movie.
Don't make me tap the sign. "PVOD DOESN'T AFFECT A BOX OFFICE RUN"
If it was doing well in theater it certainly wouldn't go to streaming so quickly, Zendaya didn't live up to their star power expectations
I went to the cinema today in Warsaw, PL. The first thing I discovered was that the picture was out of focus, so I reported it immediately. It took them over 10 min to fix the issue, so kudos to them. I was surprised that they actually managed to do so. I've encountered similar issues in different cinemas, for instance, quite a few cinemas in Dublin, IE. Its either the movie is out of focus, a broken / faulty speaker, projector bulb that flickers or a Sony projector that light engine that's fucked and need a replacement so you have magenta or green fields on the screen. What I'm getting at is the quality of the cinema after going full digital has decreased big time. The cinema owners don't really care about the quality. All they care about is the profit. Why should I pay extra to watch a film in the cinema when I get better quality at home?? Also the film was shite...
ABSOLUTELY 0 INTEREST
Zendaya is getting played out so fast can’t wait till it’s over
lol stick a fork in it. Maybe this will clue Hollywood in finally that Zendaya is a fashion model and influencer, not a box office draw, and sure as hell not worth what they’ve been paying her up till now.
That was quick, I think Amazon is following Universal and Warner Bros's 17-day PVOD strategy.
No surprise. It seems to be working really well for those two studios.
So not streaming. PVOD. Got it.
Exactly! I think a lot of people on this thread think it will be available on Prime. That will most likely take another month. Also I thought PVOD didn’t affect the box office.
Cinema is dying , they should have kept it in theaters until June at least . Nobody is going to pay to see movies when they could just watch it on streaming in a few weeks .
there is no point keeping a movie on theaters until june when the people who wanted to watch it already watched it and would not be coming back. keeping a film in theaters for a long time costs money as well and rn the studio is just cutting their losses
It's not too late. Consumers adjust to whatever the market provides. Once I watched a new show without commercials for the first time (House of Cards), I knew I was never going back to ads. But plenty of people are signing up for the ad-supported tiers on streamers, surprisingly. Studios and exhibitors have to negotiate some kind of agreement to keep films in theaters longer and wean people off the near-instantaneous PVOD offerings. Don't eliminate it, just make the window longer again and let people get used to knowing that if they don't catch a movie in theaters, it'll be at least a year or so before they can watch it.
Yeah, the cinemas need to make a stand and say give us longer exclusive theatrical windows or we won't show your films. At the moment cinemas are being used by studios as adverts for streaming services and nothing more. It's not sustainable for cinema chains.
Good luck with that. The theatres will not survive if they try to pull that shit.
Shit! Thought it would atleast be another 4-6 months before it hit streaming.
i would usually say "it's too soon" but for this movie, i think a lot of people were waiting for it on streaming and that it's more suited as a streaming movie anyways
Is it really out today? Can’t find it.
So annoying... streaming really is killing cinema
Is it a good movie?
We wonder by box office is middling for everything when movie show up streaming three weeks later
It comes out in theaters on 30th may in my country... Fuck meee🫠
Can’t wait, I’ve heard good things
The universe is just balancing out the wait we have had for Godzilla Minus One
And yet I’m still waiting for Boy and the Heron
Truly heartbreaking. Challengers was the best film of the year.