Jonathan Majors movie gets 2025 release date two years after being dropped by distributor

‘Magazine Dreams’ stars Majors as a bodybuilder who abuses steroids

Magazine Dreams, a bodybuilding drama starring Jonathan Majors, has found a new distributor two years after being dropped by Searchlight Pictures.

The film from writer-director Elijah Bynum will now be distributed by Briarcliff Entertainment and is set to arrive in theaters in the first quarter of 2025.

It was originally scheduled to be released in December 2023, but Searchlight removed the film from its release schedule when Majors was found guilty of harassing and assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

The same day the verdict was delivered, Majors was also dropped from the role of Kang the Conquerer in the forthcoming fifth Avengers film, which was then titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. It has since been renamed Avengers: Doomsday, with Robert Downey Jr playing a different antagonist, Dr Doom.

Majors said he was “heartbroken” over the decision.

Magazine Dreams sees Majors play aspiring bodybuilder Killian Maddox, who abuses steroids in his quest for recognition. The film has been described as an exploration of “celebrity and violence,” and it sparked a bidding war after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023.

Jonathan Majors in ‘Magazine Dreams’ (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

In preparation for the role of Maddox, Majors reportedly ate 6,100 calories a day for four months and trained for six hours a day to obtain and maintain the extreme muscular physique required.

The film’s new distributors Briarcliff Entertainment are also releasing the controversial Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice.

While Majors avoided jail time over his conviction, the actor was sentenced to a one-year, in-person batterer intervention program in Los Angeles, California, mandated to continue with therapy and pay a $250 surcharge.

The Manhattan Criminal Court judge also issued a protective order for his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.

During the trial, jurors heard how Majors pulled Jabbari’s finger, twisted her arm, hit her and pushed her in a way that caused her to fall onto the pavement. Surveillance footage showed Majors shoving Jabbari into a vehicle before pulling her back out of the car and dragging her onto the sidewalk.

Majors was arrested on the night of the incident after officers responded to a 911 call to his Chelsea penthouse apartment.

Majors, who had been on a stratospheric career trajectory before the conviction, was dropped from various other projects aside from Marvel, including a brand deal with Italian fashion house Valentino, advertisements for Major League Baseball team the Texas Rangers and the US Army, and the lead role in The Man in My Basement, an adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel.