Jonathan Majors continues to lose projects as more companies react following his conviction of assault and harassment charges.
According to The Blast Jonathan Majors‘ “Magazine Dreams” won’t be coming to the big screens anytime soon, as film giants Searchlight Pictures has returned the movie rights to its makers.
It comes after Majors was dropped from the cast of “48 Hours in Vegas,” a movie where he was to play former NBA star Dennis Rodman.
Searchlight Pictures, the specialized division of Disney Studios, has reportedly decided to abandon the bodybuilding drama directed by Elijah Bynum and starring Jonathan Majors.
Originally titled “Magazine Dreams,” Searchlight acquired the film rights in February 2023 for a substantial seven-figure sum, just a month after its well-received premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Celebrated by critics as an “all-in performance for the ages,” the film generated significant anticipation for its scheduled theatrical release in December of the preceding year.
This release was expected to be a refined version of the Sundance premiere.
However, in October, Searchlight officially removed it from the release calendar, coinciding with the impending assault and harassment trial involving Jonathan Majors and his ex-partner, Grace Jabbari.
Following Majors’ conviction on two out of four charges in the trial, sources familiar with the situation have revealed that Searchlight has relinquished the film rights back to the filmmakers, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
In the meantime, the potential for the film’s big-screen debut is uncertain, as the “Magazine Dreams” team is now tasked with seeking other buyers for the rights. Because of the negative traction around Majors, finding someone willing to bet on the film might be more challenging. If one isn’t found, it is safe to say that Majors’ hard work in embodying the character Killian Maddox would have been for nothing.
According to reports, Majors trained for 18 months to transform himself physically for the role before the movie was shot for 24 days around Los Angeles. At its Sundance debut, it not only got praised by attendees but also landed the Creative Vision Jury Prize, which is considered a major honor by film critics.
Sources also tipped the film to be one that would be considered in the awards conversation in the long run.
“It would have 100 percent been in the awards conversation” had it not been for Majors’ legal troubles, a source shared per The Hollywood Reporter.
Majors’ movie being dropped by Searchlight is just one out of the many career losses the actor has suffered in the wake of being found guilty in his assault and harassment trial.
