Jonathan Majors’s new sports drama has finally debuted its first trailer, two years after the film was dropped by its original distributor following the actor’s 2023 assault conviction.
Directed by Elijah Bynum, Magazine Dreams stars Majors, 35, as Killian Maddox, an aspiring bodybuilder who abuses steroids in his quest for recognition.
In the movie’s first teaser, Killian is shown going to great lengths to achieve his dream of being named Mr. Olympia, the international bodybuilding champion.
“You have to do something big and important, or no one will remember you when you're dead,” he says in a voiceover.
Killian, who takes care of his ailing veteran father (Harrison Page), is shown speaking to a therapist (Harriet Sansom Harris), who informs him that it’s important he “find people that [he] can make an emotional bond with.”
“If you’re not 100 percent you will never be successful,” he adds in another voiceover. “You’ve got to commit all energy and focus to being the greatest bodybuilder on the entire planet. That’s what separates one from being a champion, one from not being a champion.”
Described as an exploration of “celebrity and violence,” Magazine Dreams sparked a bidding war after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023.
It was purchased by Searchlight, with the distributor announcing it would arrive in theaters in 2023. However, after Majors was found guilty in December that year of harassing and assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Searchlight removed the film from its release schedule.
It was later picked up by Briarcliff Entertainment and, after a two-year delay, it is now scheduled to be released on March 21.
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 for the role.
The Creed III actor was on a meteoric rise in the industry when he was found guilty of one count of third-degree assault and one count of harassment against his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.
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 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.
