Inevitably, the ongoing actors strike was going to affect Hollywood’s production schedules, and even disrupt the slate of upcoming movies. We have already seen a number of anticipated 2023 movies bounce to 2024, including Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet’s Dune Part 2. Earlier today, Disney also moved two anticipated 2024 movies – Rachel Zegler’s controversial Snow White remake, and the next Pixar film – to 2025. Mixed in with the shuffle of that release date news was an updated on Magazine Dreams, writer-director Elijah Bynum’s feature film that earned raves out of the Sundance Film Festival. The movie no longer has a release date, and I’m beginning to think we’ll never see this movie in theaters.
It’s not that Magazine Dreams was postponed from December 2023 to a pending 2024 date so that Jonathan Majors can do press when the SAG strike lifts. That’s basically why Snow White with Rachel Zegler was delayed. Magazine Dreams instead has been marked “Unset” on the release calendar for Searchlight. And given the ongoing legal issues facing Majors, it’s likely Bynum’s movie won’t get distribution.
Majors was praised for his performance in Magazine Dreams, where he plays a man trying to break into the world of professional bodybuilding, while also taking care of his ailing grandfather. In his review of the film, CinemaBlend movie reviewer Eric Eisenberg wrote:
Majors has thoroughly proven that he can be charisma incarnate on screen, but this is about as far a swing away from that as is possible. In close-up, what we see in Killian’s eyes is swirling pain and rage, and it’s hypnotizing in a way that being trapped in a small room with a grizzly bear is hypnotizing. Childhood trauma, rage and self-esteem issues, and dark, anti-social tendencies have rendered this man unpredictable and dangerous, and you become afraid of taking your eyes off him.
Unfortunately for Jonathan Majors, his off-screen actions have overshadowed his on-screen accomplishments. There has been a legal battle waged between Majors and an ex-girlfriend who has accused the actor of physical assault. His requests for a dismissal of his trial was rejected, and now he’s due in court on November 29. At the same time, Majors’s ex, Grace Jabbari, was arrested this week on misdemeanor charges tied to the assault on Majors. So the case is no closer to being resolved.
And in the wake of this legal disarray, Searchlight has decided not to release Magazine Dreams in theaters for the time being. There’s always the possibility that the film could go to a streaming service. But any planned awards push on behalf of Jonathan Majors and his performance probably have now been abandoned. If there are any updates, we’ll bring them to you.