Disgraced former Marvel Studios star Jonathan Majors has been struck with another huge blow to his career as his sole remaining film project has been dropped by the Walt Disney Company, leaving it without distribution and the actor without prospects.
Credit: Searchlight Pictures
Magazine Dreams, a once eagerly-anticipated drama film from writer-director Elijah Bynum, stars Jonathan Majors as an aspiring bodybuilder, Killian Maddox, who finds both his body and mind ravaged by ambition and the pressures of competition. The film co-stars Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Page, and Harriet Sansom Harris.
The film originally premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews and was picked up by Searchlight Pictures, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company that primarily specializes in prestige, critically acclaimed films like 12 Years a Slave (2013), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Jojo Rabbit (2019).
Related: Disney’s “PR Move” Brings Back Guilty Jonathan Majors with New Update, “That Did Not Happen”
The film was initially scheduled to be released in theaters in December 2023, in what is popularly known as “award season,” which strongly indicates that Searchlight and Disney were looking to position then-fast-rising Marvel star Jonathan Majors as a potential Academy Award nominee.
Credit: Marvel Studios
However, per The Hollywood Reporter, Magazine Dreams has been completely dropped from distribution by Searchlight, and the rights returned to the filmmakers, presumably Elijah Bynum and various producers. While it is possible that another studio will pick up the option to distribute the movie, the legal troubles surrounding the actor make it unlikely.
After being cast as the new MCU supervillain Kang the Conqueror, Jonathan Majors appeared to be a huge new star in Hollywood. He had picked up critical notice in projects like the HBO show Lovecraft Country and The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), which led to films like the war film Devotion (2022) and Creed III (2023) alongside fellow Marvel villain Michael B. Jordan.
Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Bros.
Related: Following Jonathan Majors Firing, Disney Might Have Found Marvel’s New Kang
But then Jonathan Majors was arrested in March 2023 for assaulting his ex-partner Grace Jabbari and, after months of legal turmoil and public speculation, was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment in December. He has since been fired by Marvel, which is frantically retooling its plans for the future of the franchise, dropped by Lionsgate for 48 Hours in Vegas, a Dennis Rodman film still in development, and, now, his only completed film has lost distribution.
Jonathan Majors is scheduled for sentencing on February 6.
Inside the Magic reached out to Searchlight for comment, but has not heard back by the time of publishing.
Do you think Jonathan Majors’ film career is over? Let us know in the comments below.
Jonathan Majors has been fired by Marvel, dumped by his representation, and, now, faces yet another huge career low. Read More