How to watch ‘Challengers’ at home: When and where is it streaming?
Here are the best ways to watch ‘Challengers’ for free when the Zendaya film hits Prime Video.
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Challengers has set the internet aflame with its sexy love triangle drama. As Mashable Tech Reporter Elena Cavender noted, “It’s got everything you want in a movie: a steamy love triangle between incredibly good-looking people (West Side Story‘s Mike Faist, La Chimera‘s Josh O’Connor, and Dune‘s Zendaya), thrilling tennis sequences, and an electrifying score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.” What’s not to love?
The film hit theaters at the end of April and it’s still making headlines — and we can only expect more to come as it is now available to watch at home. See what director Luca Guadagnino is serving up in Challengers and discover whether you’re Team Art, Team Patrick, or Team Tashi. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch Challengers at home.
What is Challengers about?
Zendaya stars as a teenage tennis star on the rise, Tashi Duncan, who has what it takes to turn pro until an injury pitches her to the sidelines. Best friends and tennis players Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) are both in love with Tashi. She dates one, then marries the other, but who she’ll end up with remains an ongoing question throughout the film. The love triangle plays out in and around the tennis court, with the audience getting smacked back and forth like a ball across a net.
Here’s the official trailer:
Is Challengers worth watching?
“While it may be too much for some audiences to handle, there’s no doubt Challengers is hands down one of the best and sexiest movies of the year,” declares Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko. And she’s not alone, as the film currently holds an 89% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
It earned 15 million at the box office on its opening weekend and has gone on to earn about $47 million domestically, meaning it’s still going strong a month later.
While many of the film’s WTF moments are certainly a hit on social media, the film is more than just a collection of memes. As Puchko noted, “Challengers is not just a sexy love story or a suspenseful sports movie. Imbued with adrenaline in every frame, note, and beat, it is a breathtaking cinematic experience that thrusts you into the center of this love triangle, bounces you about like a ball that lives for the racket’s smack, and leaves you breathless with a finale that is indulgent yet deeply satisfying.”
Read our full review of Challengers.
How to watch Challengers at home
Just a month after its theatrical debut, Challengers is officially available to watch at home via video-on-demand sites like Prime Video and Fandango at Home (Vudu). You can rent it from any of the retailers below for 30 days. Just remember: once you start watching a rental, you’ll only have 48 hours to finish before you lose access. You’ll be able to purchase the film from the same retailers at a later date.
As of May 17, you can rent the film at the following retailers:
Prime Video — rent for $12.74
Apple TV — rent for $14.99
Fandango at Home (Vudu) — rent for $14.99
YouTube — rent for $14.99
Is Challengers streaming?
If you’d rather wait for Challengers to start streaming, you can prepare by signing up for a Prime membership or Prime Video subscription. While it hasn’t officially been announced yet, Challengers is an Amazon MGM Studios film. So, the film will most likely make its streaming debut on Prime Video. There’s no official streaming date yet at the time of writing, but we’ll keep you updated when the date is announced. Until then, check out the Prime Video streaming deals below. A Prime membership starts at $14.99 per month, but there are other ways you can save and watch Challengers and more on Prime Video.
Can I get Prime Video for free?
If you’re new to the Prime realm or coming back after some time away (a year or more), Amazon offers new and returning members a free 30-day trial of its Prime membership. That gives you unlimited access to Prime Video library, where you’ll eventually be able to stream Challengers.
Just be sure to cancel your Prime membership before the free trial ends if you want to avoid paying the $14.99 membership fee per month.
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The best Prime Video deals
There aren’t too many Prime Video deals floating around compared to other streaming services, but we’ve rounded up the few options you have to save a bit of money.
Prime Video deal for students: Save 50% through Prime Student
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Students can nab a free six-month trial to Prime through Prime Student, so long as you have a verifiable student email address. This gives you access to all the Prime perks (plus more!), including Prime Video. That means you can stream Challengers for free as many times as you want over a six-month period. After your trial ends, you’ll have to pay half the price of a regular Prime membership — just $69 per year or $7.49 per month.
Note: You’ll have to be able to prove you’re actually a student through SheerID, so don’t try using your decade-old student email address.
Best for everyone else: Prime Video only
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If you’re not eligible for the free trial or discounted Prime Student membership, you likely won’t be able to watch Challengers for free. However, you can save some money by opting to subscribe to Prime Video as a standalone service, rather than paying for a full Prime account. While a full Prime membership will run you $14.99 per month (or $139 per year, which breaks down to $11.58 per month), Prime Video as a standalone service will only cost you $8.99 per month. Sure, that’s not as good as getting it for free, but it’s certainly better than paying the full Prime pricing just for the streaming aspect.
Obviously, Amazon wants you to become a Prime member. Thus, signing up for Prime Video only is unnecessarily tricky. Basically, when you go to sign up for a subscription, be sure to select the option to “see more plans” or “change plan” and navigate to the Prime Video only option. Like Prime, you can cancel whenever you please with no strings.
Best long-term value: Amazon Prime annual membership
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If you do want all the Prime membership perks, you could choose an annual membership rather than monthly. It’ll cost you $139 per year, which breaks down to just $11.58 per month instead of the usual $14.99 per month — that’s about 22% in savings. You’ll get access to Prime Video to watch Challengers, as well as all the other Prime perks, like fast and free shipping, free Grubhub+, access to Amazon Music, and exclusive deals and savings for an entire year. If you’re currently on the monthly plan, navigate to your Prime membership under your account details to change plans.