It was supposed to be a breakout role for the ages for Jonathan Majors and a favorite in this year’s award season. Now it looks like “Magazine Dreams” will stay on Searchlight‘s shelf indefinitely. THR reports that in the leadup to Majors’ February 6 sentencing for assault and harassment convictions, the studio mulls its options on the film they acquired after its award-winning Sundance premiere. And while Searchlight stays quiet about the film’s fate, sources close to the situation say the studio may never send “Magazine Dreams” to the big screen.
It’s hard to believe “Magazine Dreams” may never reach audiences after how well the film played at Sundance last year. Still, it’s part of the massive negative fallout to Major’s career following his conviction for a March 2023 involving the actor’s ex-partner Grace Jabbari. Marvel Studios dropped Majors from future projects as Kang the Conquerer just hours after his conviction, a move many anticipated. But Searchlight’s picture is a more complicated matter. After the studio acquired the film in February 2023, they set it up for a cushy December 2023 theatrical release date with Oscar Best Picture aspirations. But as Majors’ trial approached, Searchlight pulled the film from its calendar in October, its hopes nixed that “Magazine Dreams” would be the next “The Shape Of Water” or “12 Years A Slave.”
Now it’s unclear whether “Magazine Dreams” has a future at Searchlight at all. The studio remains silent about its plans for the movie, but sources do not see the studio releasing the film theatrically or for streaming on Hulu. And marketing the film will prove problematic, given its violent themes. An alternative for Searchlight? The studio could give “Magazine Dreams” back to its filmmakers, who could shop the film to another studio, or release the film independently. But even that scenario will be difficult after Majors’ sentencing next month.
One feels for “Magazine Dream” writer-director Elijah Bynum in all this. After the film debuted to raves at Sundance last year, winning festival’s Creative Vision Jury Prize, the “Hot Summer Nights” director was poised for a breakout, with the up-and-coming Majors a brother in arms also hurdling toward a career year. Now Bynum’s sophomore feature may end up a major career setback thanks to his leading man. “Magazine Dreams’ stars Majors as Killian Maddox, an amateur bodybuilder who battles personal demons on his way to success. Word of mouth out of Sundance already had Majors in the running for the Best Actor Oscar, with one source saying, “It would have 100 percent been in the awards conversation.” But Majors’ legal troubles ground the film and actor’s Oscar campaigns to an abrupt halt.
Where do Bynum and Majors go from here? It may be difficult to leave the untapped potential of “Magazine Dreams” behind, but Bynum may do well to move on to his next project, hoping that his second feature gets a release someday, however limited. As for Majors, he’s persona non grata in Hollywood for now, and especially with a harsh sentencing next month. That’s not stopping the actor from already trying to salvage his career. Majors participated in a broadcast interview with ABC last week in an attempt to burnish his public image as he awaits sentencing. When asked if he thinks he’ll work again in Hollywood, Majors respond, “Yeah, I do. I pray I do.”
Expect a definitive answer to the fate of “Magazine Dreams” after Majors’ sentencing on February 6.
