The Zendaya and Mike Faist-led tennis film from Luca Guadagnino, Challengers, has been pulled from its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and also received a release date change amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that MGM was pulling Challengers out of its original release plan. Initially, the film was set to open and have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this year and then open on September 15. However, MGM has now moved the new Zendaya flick all the way to April 26, 2024. The Venice Film Festival has chosen a new film to open its festival this year: Comandante.

While disappointing, the move makes sense from a studio's perspective. After all, due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, most of the talent wouldn't be able to participate in the press tour for the film. When your film is headlined by a star as big as Zendaya, you would want to have her there. It's the same that another one of her films faces, Dune: Part Two, which features an all-star ensemble.

Challengers follows a tennis prodigy, Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), who ends up coaching her husband (Mike Faist) who's on a losing streak. He has to face off against Patrick (Josh O'Connor), Tashi's ex and her husband's former best friend.

This is the latest film from Luca Guadagnino, most known for Call Me by Your Name and his Suspira remake. His previous film, Bones and All, reunited him with Timothée Chalamet and created a new star in Taylor Russell.

Challengers will be released on April 26, 2024.