Zendaya‘s newest film Challengers is already receiving Oscars buzz.
Zendaya stars alongside Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist in what has been one of the biggest topics of conversation in just 24 hours since its theatrical release.
The tennis and love triangle storyline has captivated fans worldwide, bringing in a whopping $6.2 million (£4.9 million) at the box office on opening day, as reported by The Blast.
The film tells the story of Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), who tries to help her husband (Faist) regain his professional tennis career.
He goes up against another player (O’Connor), who happens to be his former best friend and Duncan’s former lover.
Challengers has scored consistently highly with some of the biggest outlets in the nation, particularly with the industry’s trade publications.
Variety critic Peter Debruge dubbed it “hip, sexy and ridiculously overheated” and called Zendaya’s performance “astonishing”.
Manohla Dargishe of the New York Times wrote, “All three leads in Challengers are very appealing, and each brings emotional and psychological nuance to the story,”
“They’re also just fun to look at, and part of the pleasure of this movie is watching pretty people in states of undress restlessly circling one another.”
Challengers has also scored highly on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, where it has earned a 92 per cent “fresh” rating.