Will Challengers Win An Oscar? Insights and Betting Odds

Zendaya dazzles at 'Challengers' premiere. (Image Press Agency / Alamy)

Challengers has received plenty of plaudits since it smashed its way into cinemas last month.

In the romantic sports drama film by director Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya plays Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach who mentors Mike Faist's character, pro tennis star Art Donaldson.

In the movie, Donaldson is hit with a losing streak, and to overcome it, Duncan signs him up for a challengers event, where he comes up against his former best friend and her ex-lover Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor).

Challengers, which has its fair share of passionate scenes, has been a huge hit with critics and currently boasts an 89% score on film review site Rotten Tomatoes.

After being talked up as an ace film by the critics, there has been some Oscar 2025 buzz just weeks after this year's Academy Awards, and it's thought Challengers may gain further positive attention over time as we head nearer to next year's Academy Awards. 

But will it do enough to win an Oscar?

Reznor's Challengers Hat-Trick? 

Challengers' best chance of winning an Academy Award could be through the score. It was composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who already have two Best Original Score Oscars to their names.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross at 'Challengers' Premiere. Image: Press Agency / Alamy )

The Nine Inch Nails stars clinched their first Best Original Score Oscar in 2010 for The Social Network, and 10 years later they produced another Academy Award-winner for the animated film Soul.

It would be no surprise if the pair completed a hat-trick with Challengers, and they should at least receive a nomination, giving the movie every chance of going down in history.

Challengers should also be in the Best Original Screenplay conversation.

Guadagnino has had previous Academy Awards success with 2017 movie Call Me By Your Name, which scooped a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, and the movie was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet), and Best Original Song (Mystery of Love).

While the 2025 Academy Awards are a long way off, this film could be here to stay in the conversation.

It is Evens for Challengers to scoop one Oscar, while it's 3/1 for the movie to land two and 6/1 for a hat-trick. However, it is just 2/1 for the film to fail to serve up any Academy Awards.

Zendaya's Performance Courts Oscars Buzz

However, Challengers could also have an Oscar chance in the Best Actress category.  

The motion picture is arguably Zendaya's first foray as the main lead of a huge movie, after her ensemble appearances in the Spider-Man and Dune film franchises.

Her pulsating performance in the steamy film has certainly created plenty of positive attention, but will Academy voters be too distracted by the sexy scenes to give credence to the movie's artistic qualities?

Zendaya has already had a busy year of theatrical releases. She is also a huge character in Dune: Part Two, which is the highest-grossing movie of this year so far, with $708.8 million at the worldwide box office.

This will also no doubt lead to some potential Oscar attention in 2025, especially if the first Dune movie is anything to go by.

Dune was released in 2021 and was a huge hit at the 2022 Academy Awards, scooping six accolades - Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Visual Effects.

While Dune: Part Two will very much be in the conversation again, Challengers could be Zendaya's best chance of an individual Oscar.

The tennis film is 4/6 favourite to be more likely to land an Academy Award for the actress than Dune: Part Two (6/4) is.

There is even a slim chance Zendaya could have another go at next year's Oscars.

She is expected to appear in Spider-Man 4, which was initially set for a 2024 release, but following the Hollywood writers' strikes, a 2025 drop looks far more likely.

It has been rumoured that June 27, 2025, could be the forthcoming film's release date, because Sony has the date on its calendar for an untitled Marvel movie, meaning it would miss out on consideration for next year's Academy Awards.

Challengers Rematch Unlikely

While Zendaya is likely to be eagerly awaiting next year's Oscars nominations, she may not be as confident about a Challengers sequel emerging.

Guadagnino hasn't told of any plans for Challengers 2, after—spoiler alert—the three main characters reunited at the end of the movie.

While it is an ambiguous ending, Guadagnino recently told Entertainment Weekly: "I needed to get this very, very visually amped up and really immersed for the audience to understand how much it meant for them not to win over each other but to be back together. All of them."

Should there only ever be one Challengers film, it will certainly go down in history if Zendaya lands her first-ever Academy Award success.