Jonathan Majors' Magazine Dreams is getting released after all

Hailing from writer-director Elijah Bynum, Magazine Dreams sees Majors transform his physique to play a realistic depiction of an obsessive bodybuilder named Killian Maddox. Over the course of the film, Killian has aspirations of making a dent in the competitive community, but is occasionally overcome by a violent rage due to the steroids he injects to achieve his goal. 

In his A.V. Club writeup of the film from 2023’s Sundance Festival, Murtada Elfadl commented that “Majors, using his elastic face to convey a multitude of emotions, gives the type of physically transformative performance that gets people talking about awards.” That conversation may now be back on the table, as Ortenberg tells Deadline the film is eyeing a wide theatrical release in “early 2025.”

“Magazine Dreams is a visceral experience that challenges the perceptions of ambition and identity,” Ortenberg said in a statement. “Jonathan Majors’ transcendent performance as Killian Maddox will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most compelling and transformative roles in recent cinema history.” It’s not that surprising that Briarcliff would be the one to take a shot on Majors. They’re also distributing controversial Donald Trump-Roy Cohn biopic The Apprentice. Previously, the company released 2016 Best Picture winner Spotlight. 

Despite saying that he “didn’t really get” the chance to come back into the public eye to make art this past July, Majors isn’t the only disgraced actor to do just that in recent years. Johnny Depp premiered his film Jeanne du Barry at Cannes last year, and Kevin Spacey has starred in several films since his trial. Still, neither man has experienced anything like the levels of fame they enjoyed before their respective downfalls, and nothing that can really be called a comeback. We’ll see if Majors follows a similar trajectory when Magazine Dreams hits theaters next year.