UPDATE: Here’s the YouTube trailer.
Last December, Briarcliffe Entertainment, who had already acquired one film nobody else wanted (“The Apprentice”), helped save another one by nabbing “Magazine Dreams,” starring Jonathan Majors, from Searchlight.
The film, which has a March 21, 2025 release date, finally has a trailer — which can be viewed exclusively at Entertainment Weekly. It’s a strong showcase of just how good Majors is in this flawed film; He gives an utterly intense and possessed performance.
“Magazine Dreams,” directed by Elijah Bynum, and which premiered at Sundance 2023, is a grim character study. The film tackles an amateur bodybuilder (Majors) struggling to find human connection as his relentless drive to be recognized pushes him to the brink of insanity. It’s a film that takes inspiration in Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle — an oddball loner starving to get recognized and slowly losing his mind
In 2023, Searchlight pulled “Magazine Dreams” from an intended December 8 release date, as Majors was embroiled in a domestic violence scandal. Majors’ trial lasted a few weeks, and the actor was eventually found guilty of assault and harassment.
It was just a year ago that THR’s sources had reported that the chances of seeing “Magazine Dreams” on the big screen were “highly unlikely”. Even a dump on Hulu wasn’t happening as the film would likely be too “problematic.”The trade added that Majors would have “100 percent been in the awards conversation” had it not been for his legal woes. They’re not wrong. Searchlight was prepping a massive campaign for Majors.
Majors, who was just honored with a “perseverance award,” and was recently cast in a new low-budget sci-fi thriller, directed by Denis Villeneuve’s younger brother, has not been shy in his insistence that he’d like to mount an acting comeback. It’s doable. When people watch his work in “Magazine Dreams,” they’ll understand why.