Jonathan Majors‘ Magazine Dreams is officially back on the market. Nearly a year after Searchlight Pictures acquired the body-building drama, the specialty arm of Walt Disney Studios has quietly returned rights of the movie to the filmmakers, who will now shop it to other buyers.
The move comes mere weeks after Majors was convicted of assault and harassment, stemming from an incident involving his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari. Searchlight delivered the news to the Magazine Dreams team late last week that it would not be releasing the film, according to sources.
Searchlight had no comment.
Magazine Dreams debuted to fanfare last January at Sundance, where Majors’ performance as amateur body builder Killian Maddox earned him rave reviews and early awards buzz. The film’s director, Elijah Bynum, was hailed as the next big director.
Searchlight bought the film for what sources say was around mid seven figures in February 2023. It was mapping out a late-year awards season campaign. A month later, however, Majors was arrested in New York, putting the fate of the film up in the air.
Searchlight officially removed it from its release calendar in October, ahead of Majors’ trial. The actor awaits sentencing Feb. 6. He has already faced career fallout stemming from his arrest and conviction, with Marvel Studios firing him as villain Kang the Conqueror. Last week, Lionsgate dropped the Dennis Rodman feature 48 Hours in Vegas, with that project now looking for a new star and a new home.
Bynum wrote and directed Magazine Dreams, which sports an 84 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes after being reviewed out of Sundance.
“It’s an all-in performance for the ages, layered with as much vulnerability as anger, and it’s to Majors’ credit that our hearts ache for Killian even — or perhaps especially — when he’s out of control,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter chief film critic David Rooney in his review. “Majors and writer-director Elijah Bynum manage the considerable feat of making us fear more for the intimidating colossus than the quivering employer he’s standing over.”
After Searchlight acquired the film, sources say the plan was for Bynum to fine tune a cut of the feature for its theatrical release, though it’s unclear if work commenced on this new cut. Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman produced the feature.
“It would have 100 percent been in the awards conversation” had it not been for Majors’ legal troubles, one source connected to the film told The Hollywood Reporter for a story published last week.
Now, if the right buyer comes along, the film may have another chance to be seen, and perhaps, achieve that dream.
