NEW YORK (AP) — The Jonathan Majors -starring bodybuilder drama “Magazine Dreams" has been acquired for theatrical release after it was dropped following Majors' conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
Briarcliff Entertainment has picked up distribution rights to the film, its chief executive, Tom Ortenberg confirmed Wednesday. Ortenberg said in an email that Briarcliff is planning a “robust” theatrical release in the first quarter of 2025. Deadline first reported the acquisition.
Before Majors' conviction, “Magazine Dreams” had been a critical hit at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023. Searchlight Pictures had set a release for later in the year, with widespread expectations that it could land Majors his first Oscar nomination.
But that changed after a confrontation in March 2023 led to Majors arrest. Majors' former girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, accused him of attacking her in the backseat of a chauffeured car, saying he hit her head with his open hand, twisted her arm behind her back and squeezed her middle finger until it fractured.
Majors maintained he was innocent. But in December, Majors was found guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation.
Within hours of that decision, Marvel Studios dropped Majors from the role of Kang the Conqueror, which was to have been a focal point in its films and TV series for years to come. In January 2024, Searchlight — which, like Marvel, is owned by the Walt Disney Co. — returned its distribution rights to “Magazine Dreams" to the film's producers.
In April this year, Majors was ordered to complete a yearlong counseling program but avoided jail time. In sentencing Majors, Judge Michael Gaffey noted both sides in the case agreed the charges didn't warrant jail time and that Majors had no prior criminal record.
In writer-director Elijah Bynum’s “Magazine Dreams,” Majors plays a lonely, aspiring bodybuilder prone to eruptions of rage, carrying wounds from a life filled with pain.
Briarcliff is also the distributor of one of 2024’s most controversial films, the upcoming Donald Trump dramatization “The Apprentice.”
FILE - Jonathan Majors poses in the press room during the BET Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, June 30, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
In a debate that evoked a calmer era in American politics, Tim Walz and JD Vance went after each other’s running mates Tuesday and sought to shore up their campaigns’ vulnerabilities at a time of renewed fears of a regional war in the Middle East and sadness over devastation from Hurricane Helene.
Meanwhile, those new trials — along with a dockworkers strike that threatens the U.S. economy — are looming over the final weeks of the presidential campaign and could help shape the public mood as voters decide between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
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“This strike is about fairness," the vice president said in the Wednesday statement. “Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The Longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits.”
In the statement, she criticized her opponent, former President Donald Trump, as someone who wants to take the country “back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize.”
“Donald Trump makes empty promise after empty promise to American workers, but never delivers," Harris said. “He thinks our economy should only work for those who own the big skyscrapers, not those who actually build them.”
“I feel very strongly that U.S. Steel needs to remain a U.S. company, and that the people working there need to be American workers,” Harris during an interview with KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh.
It’s a position consistent with the White House.
Pressed on U.S. Steel saying it could be forced to move its headquarters from Pittsburgh and cut jobs if the deal doesn’t go through, Harris told the TV station that it's her “priority to keep jobs in Pittsburg.”
President Joe Biden has opposed the acquisition of U.S. Steel to a foreign entity and his administration has indicated it could move to block the sale amid a government review of it. Since taking over for Biden at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Harris has repeatedly taken a similar stance.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is holding a bus tour through central Pennsylvania with stops in the capital of Harrisburg, as well as York, and Reading.
In York, he’s being joined by Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman for a rally. While on the tour, Walz plans to meet with labor organizers and leaders from rural areas and the Hispanic community.
Vice President Kamala Harris had originally been set to do the bus tour with Walz following Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate in New York, but she's instead heading to Georgia on Wednesday to see areas hard-hit by Hurricane Helene.
On Saturday, Walz has fundraisers scheduled for Cleveland and Cincinnati, then will head to California and Washington state. That swing will feature campaign stops in Reno, Nevada — a makeup for a planned trip in September that Walz scrapped because of wildfires -- and Arizona, where early voting will be kicking off.
The Harris campaign says Walz will also increase the number of media interviews he's doing post-debate, with an eye to reaching target voters across key demographics.
Over the past four years, President Joe Biden has jetted off to survey damage and console victims after tornadoes, wildfires and tropical storms. It’s not a role Kamala Harris has played as vice president.
But on Wednesday, they'll both fan out across the Southeast to grapple with the damage from Hurricane Helene, seeking to demonstrate commitment and competence in helping devastated communities after Donald Trump’s false claims about their administration’s response. Biden is heading to North and South Carolina, while Harris is going to Georgia.
Harris’ stop will also serve as a political test in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. She’s trying to step into the role for which Biden is best known — showing the empathy Americans expect in times of tragedy — in the closing stretch of her campaign for president.
Former President Donald Trump is going back to Butler, Pennsylvania, where the world saw him pump his fist and beseech followers to “fight,” even as blood streaked his face from a would-be assassin’s bullet.
In announcing his return, the current Republican nominee said he planned to “celebrate a unifying vision for America’s future in an event like the world has never seen before.”
The question is: Is Butler ready?
While many are predicting a large crowd to hear Trump speak back at the very Farm Show property where a bullet grazed his right ear on July 13, there's also apprehension in town, along with a sense that Butler is still healing.
This combination image shows Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, right, during a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo)
Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, talks with Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, at Discovery World in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to members of the media, Tuesday Oct. 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
