Jonathan Majors Returning To Theaters: Film ‘Magazine Dreams’—Shelved After Assault Charges—Gets March Release

Topline

Actor Jonathan Majors—who lost several film roles and marketing partnerships after he was charged and convicted last year of assaulting his ex-girlfriend—will return to theaters with his film “Magazine Dreams” in March, his latest attempt to get his career back on track.

Key Facts

“Magazine Dreams” will open in theaters on March 21, 2025, more than two years after Majors’ last theatrical release, “Creed III” (2023).

The film was initially set for release in December 2023 by Searchlight Pictures, but Searchlight pulled the film from its release calendar about six weeks before its premiere as Majors stood trial on his assault charges, and it reportedly dropped the distribution rights entirely in January.

Briarcliff Entertainment picked up the rights to the film in October, the same distributor that landed the rights to “The Apprentice,” a controversial film about President-elect Donald Trump’s days as a New York real estate mogul.

Tom Ortenberg, founder of Briarcliff, previously criticized the “cowardice” of studios that don’t want to acquire titles that have garnered controversy, telling The Hollywood Reporter “Magazine Dreams” is “really f*cking good” and “was not a particularly expensive acquisition given the circumstances.”

What To Watch For

Ortenberg told The Hollywood Reporter Majors plans on promoting the film, stating Briarcliff is “supportive of him.” “We have not mapped out a whole PR strategy yet of what we will or will not ask of him or what he is or is not comfortable doing,” Ortenberg said, praising Majors as an “undeniable talent.”

How Else Is Majors Making A Comeback?

Majors accepted the Perseverance Award at the Hollywood Unlocked Impact Awards—a ceremony hosted by the pop culture tabloid Hollywood Unlocked in June—one of his first high-profile public appearances following his conviction, with an emotional 17-minute speech in which he addressed his conviction. “As a Black man in the criminal justice system, I felt anger, I felt sadness, hurt, surprise. When they snatched me up out of my apartment in handcuffs, I didn’t feel like all that,” Majors said, referring to a montage of his film roles that had played on screen. “This is what happens to Black people all too often,” Majors said. Majors also landed his first post-conviction film role in June, obtaining the lead role in the upcoming independent thriller “Merciless,” directed by Martin Villeneuve. Producer Christopher Tuffin said he wanted to cast Majors because he is a “generational talent” who “has a right to go back to his career.” Majors and his girlfriend Meagan Good announced last month they are engaged.

Key Background

Majors was arrested on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment of a 30-year-old woman, his ex-girlfriend, in March 2023. The woman told police Majors had assaulted her, though Majors’ lawyer Priya Chaudhry disputed her account, claiming Majors was “provably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows.” Variety reported the following month additional alleged victims of abuse by Majors had come forward and were cooperating with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Majors was soon dropped from talent agency Entertainment 360 and PR firm The Lede Company, and he lost a host of film roles, most notably his role as Kang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Majors had already appeared in several MCU installments and would have starred in “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” Majors’ trial began in November 2023, and on Dec. 18, 2023, a jury found Majors guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation, while acquitting him of another assault charge and of aggravated harassment. He was sentenced in April to 52 weeks in a domestic violence intervention program, with a judge noting his charges did not warrant jail time as he had no prior criminal history.