‘Magazine Dreams’ Trailer: The Jonathan Majors-Led Bodybuilding Drama Finally Sees the Light of Day

One of the breakout hits of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the film switched distributors and was delayed two years following star Jonathan Majors' assault conviction.

When “Magazine Dreams” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, it seemed positioned to become one of the year’s breakout hits. Jonathan Majors was gearing up for a career-best year, with roles in “Creed 3” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” to come, while Elijah Bynum’s bodybuilding drama gave the actor the kind of showcase that many believed could lead to Oscar glory. A Sundance bidding war broke out, with Searchlight acquiring the theatrical rights and planning a late 2023 release.

But those plans collapsed when Majors was arrested on charges of assault and harassment in March 2023 and found guilty in December 2023. Searchlight pulled the film from its release calendar and Majors was dropped from many of his future projects, including his role as Kang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that was expected to continue through the next two “Avengers” movies.

“Magazine Dreams” was once again shopped to interested buyers and acquired by Briarcliff Entertainment, a distributor known for its willingness to take on controversial films like Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice.” When it hits theaters in March, cinephiles will finally get a chance to see a film that could have become a career-defining performance for Majors.

Written and directed by Bynum, “Magazine Dreams” follows an amateur bodybuilder who struggles to stay sane while balancing the dreams of appearing in muscle magazines that fuel his athletic ambitions and his day job working in a grocery store. The film also stars Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige, and Mike O’Hearn.

In her initial review of the film following its Sundance premiere, IndieWire’s Kate Erbland noted the parallels between “Magazine Dreams” and “Taxi Driver,” with Majors’ Killian Maddox drawing comparisons to Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle for the level of isolation and obsession that both characters demonstrate. “But it’s hard to imagine Travis Bickle ever embracing even a quarter of the control, drive, and determination that we see from Majors’ Killian Maddox in the film’s first act,” she wrote. “Control is at the center of Killian’s primary obsession: to become a bodybuilding star, the kind that graces the covers of, yes, magazines.”

Briarcliff Entertainment will release “Magazine Dreams” in theaters on Friday, March 21. Watch the film’s first trailer below.