Zendaya’s New 95% Rotten Tomatoes Movie Could Lead To Her First Oscar (It’s Not Dune 2)

Zendaya’s critically acclaimed film Challengers arrives just months after the release of Dune: Part Two and could be the 2024 film that earns the actress her first Oscar. Zendaya has played a crucial role in Denis Villeneuve’s celebrated Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), the latter of which has become the highest-grossing movie of 2024 thus far. Despite Dune 2’s box office success being one of the year’s highest-grossing films that will certainly receive some Oscar attention in 2025, Zendaya could take home her first Academy Award for her leading role as Tashi Duncan in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers.

Challengers follows a former professional tennis player named Tashi (Zendaya) who gets involved in a heated yet playful love triangle with her tennis player husband and her ex-boyfriend. While the premise sounds simple enough, Zendaya and her co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor have elevated the plain story with their exceptional performances under the brilliant guidance of Guadagnino’s direction. Based on the stellar reviews for Challengers, which hits theaters on April 26, 2024, the new Zendaya film has already generated Oscar buzz for next year, just 5 weeks after the 2024 Academy Awards.

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers Is The Highest-Rated Movie Of Zendaya’s Career

Challengers debuted at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes in its opening week

Zendaya has starred in some of the biggest movies in recent memory, including Dune: Part Two (2024) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2023). Still, she has yet to be nominated for an Academy Award despite being one of the main attractions of essentially every movie she has starred in after skyrocketing to fame through Euphoria. Despite the massive success and popularity of Dune: Part Two, which has an enormous ensemble cast of Oscar winners and nominees, Zendaya has a better shot at winning her first Oscar based on the early critical acclaim of her upcoming Luca Guadagnino film, Challengers.

With a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 95% and a Metascore rating of 88, Challengers is the highest-rated movie of Zendaya’s career. This is also true of director Luca Guadagnino, whose Best Picture nominee Call Me By Your Name received a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Challengers’ impressive 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes is subject to change as more reviews of the film come out, it should remain in the same relative ballpark after the film’s wide release on April 26, 2024. Even if Challengers’ Rotten Tomatoes score does slip slightly in the coming weeks, it could join the esteemed 93% club of Dune: Part Two and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

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What Critics Are Saying About Challengers & Zendaya’s Star Performance

Challengers belongs in the category of Guadagnino’s career-best works

Guadagnino has been called a visionary filmmaker based on his previous celebrated works such as Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria (2018), and his acclaimed HBO series We Are Who We Are (2020). David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said in his review of Challengers, “Smart, seductive and bristling with sexual tension, Challengers is arguably Luca Guadagnino’s most purely pleasurable film to date; it’s certainly his lightest and most playful.” Additionally, Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, “The plot of “Challengers” might sound stale, and yet, there’s an electric spark to Guadagnino’s approach that elevates the material, rendering it fresh.”

Challengers belongs in the category of Guadagnino’s career-best works and Zendaya’s as well. Critics have applauded Zendaya, as well as her relatively young co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O-Connor, for their expert depictions of mature and complex themes. Maureen Lee Lenker of Entertainment Weekly wrote in her review of Challengers, “Anchored by three arresting performances and playfully experimental direction, Challengers is fresh, exhilarating, and energetic.” Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com wrote in his 3.5-star review, “It’s a treat to see three comparatively young actors nailing the kind of understated flirty gravitas that the stars of movies for grownups used to exhibit in earlier eras.”

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Early Predictions Already Put Zendaya In The Best Actress Race At The 2025 Oscars

Zendaya is already projected highly next to Lady Gaga and Saoirse Ronan

Zendaya has always drawn massive appeal in her films and television series without needing the validation of an Emmy or an Oscar to back her performances up. However, as Zendaya matures and grows as an adult actress, the fact that she’s already being considered an early contender in the 2025 Oscar race surely points to just how promising her Hollywood career will continue to be over the next decade. With the high praise for Challengers, Zendaya has already placed herself in next year’s Best Actress race alongside early favorites Lady Gaga (Joker: Folie à Deux), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun), and Emma Stone (Kinds of Kindness).

Challengers

Challengers is a romantic sports comedy film by director Luca Guadagnino. The film stars Zendaya as a retired Tennis legend who, while trying to coach her husband and lead him to victory in an upcoming Tennis match, discovers his coming opponent is her ex-lover.

Director

Luca Guadagnino

Release Date

April 26, 2024

Studio(s)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Pascal Pictures

Distributor(s)

Amazon MGM Studios

Writers

Justin Kuritzkes

Cast

Zendaya , Josh O’Connor , Mike Faist