One week after Jonathan Majors was convicted of assault and harassment, his film “Magazine Dreams” has been released back to the filmmakers by Searchlight, which will no longer be distributing, Variety has confirmed.
The Walt Disney Studios specialty arm acquired the body building drama a few weeks after it premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. The filmmakers will now be free to shop the film to other distributors.
“Magazine Dreams,” directed by Elijah Bynum, debuted to positive reviews at the festival and sold for a reported mid-seven figures. Majors was hailed for his performance as amateur body builder Killian Maddox.
But Majors’ March 25 arrest put the film’s release in question, and it was officially removed from Searchlight’s calendar in October.
The Majors conviction came after an incident involving his ex-partner Grace Jabbari. His sentence hearing is scheduled for Feb. 6.
Marvel dropped Majors from his role as villain Kang the Conqueror, while Lionsgate’s Dennis Rodman film “48 Hours in Vega” will now seek a new star and new distributor.
Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman compared “Magazine Dreams” to “The Wrestler” and “Taxi Driver” in his review, writing “’Magazine Dreams’ creates a character haunting in his extremity. But his dream becomes ours, as does the heartbreaking prospect of it being snuffed before our eyes.”
Co-starring Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Page and Harriet Sansom Harris, it’s produced by Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman. Executive producers are Majors, under his production banner Tall Street Productions, Luke Rodgers and Andrew Blau.
The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news.
