UPDATE: Searchlight confirmed Deadline’s scoop on the Magazine Dreams deal. Read the release under the original break.

EXCLUSIVE: Searchlight Pictures is closing a deal for Magazine Dreams, the Elijah Bynum scripted and directed drama that stars Jonathan Majors as a troubled amateur bodybuilder willing to go to any lengths to be noticed. Sources said that Neon, Sony Pictures Classics and HBO were also in the mix. Will apprise of release plans when deal becomes official.

Majors is about to get a major star escalation playing Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania that leads into the next Avengers, and squares off against Michael B. Jordan in Creed III.

His performance as Killian Maddox in Magazine Dreams really shows his full range and the acting chops honed at Yale and in turns that have included Lovecraft Country, The Last Black Man in San Franciso, The Harder They Fall, and most recently Devotion. His commitment in Magazine Dreams goes well beyond the 6000+ daily calories and endless workouts that got his bench press up to 340 pounds, to convincingly play an amateur bodybuilder. What is most impressive is how Majors inhabited the soul of a troubled and socially awkward young man who is so hellbent on coming out of his hell and succeeding that he has ravaged his liver with steroids and created combustible anger issues for himself. As things continue to go wrong for him, Maddox progressively heads into the darkest places during his trip down the rabbit hole, but almost never loses the audience’s hope that he will somehow pull out of the nosedive.

The film premiered January 20 at Eccles in the U.S Dramatic Competition category, but its dark turns meant that it was going to take some time for a distribution deal to get done. Weighing heavily in its favor is an awards caliber performance by Majors, something Searchlight nurtures with the best of them.
Elijah Bynum attends the 2023 Sundance Film Festival “Magazine Dreams” Premiere at Eccles Center Theatre on January 20, 2023 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/2023 Getty Images)

Pic is produced by Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Simon Horsman and Jeffrey Soros, with Majors exec producer. He stars with Haley Bennett, Harrison Page, Taylour Paige, Michael O’Hearn, and Harriet Sansom Harris.

The film also announces a new and compelling voice in Bynum, who is repped by CAA and Kaplan/Perrone, while Majors is WME and Entertainment 360.

Deal was brokered by CAA.

SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES ACQUIRES

ACCLAIMED SUNDANCE JURY AWARD WINNER

“MAGAZINE DREAMS”

STARRING JONATHAN MAJORS

Elijah Bynum’s Provocative Sophomore Feature Made Lauded World Premiere at the Festival

Los Angeles, CA, February 14, 2023 – Searchlight Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to Elijah Bynum’s acclaimed sophomore feature MAGAZINE DREAMS, winner of the Sundance Jury Award for Creative Vision. The provocative drama, which premiered to standing ovations at the festival, stars Jonathan Majors (Creed III, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, The Last Black Man in San Francisco), Haley Bennett (The Girl on the Train), Taylour Paige (Zola, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Mike O’Hearn (Con Man), Harrison Page (“CSI”, “Grey’s Anatomy”), and Harriet Sansom Harris (Licorice Pizza). The film was penned by Bynum (Hot Summer Nights) and produced by Jennifer Fox (Nightcrawler, Michael Clayton), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler, “Andor”), Jeffrey Soros (Shirley) and Simon Horsman (The Bye Bye Man). Executive producers are Majors, under his production banner Tall Street Productions, Luke Rodgers and Andrew Blau.

MAGAZINE DREAMS follows aspiring bodybuilder Killian Maddox (Majors), who struggles to find human connection in this exploration of celebrity and violence. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest. The New York Times called Majors ‘formidable,’ with the Los Angeles Times noting his performance is ‘entirely astonishing,’ and the Hollywood Reporter highlighting his ‘incredible performance for the ages’.

“We are very proud to bring Elijah’s powerful film to the world,” said Searchlight Presidents Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum. “Jonathan’s tour-de-force performance, both physically and emotionally, affected us in profound ways.”

The MAGAZINE DREAMS crafts team is rounded out by director of photography Adam Arkapaw (Macbeth, Animal Kingdom), editor Jon Otazua (“Narcos”), production designer Freyja Bardell (Run Sweetheart Run), and Costume Designer Bex Crofton-Atkins (Old Boys).

Additional release plans will be announced at a later date.

CAA Media Finance brokered the deal with Searchlight execs Paul Hoffman and Chan Phung.

Out of Sundance, Searchlight also nabbed rights to festival crowd pleaser and Jury Award (Ensemble) winner THEATER CAMP, Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s feature directorial debut penned by Noah Galvin, Gordon, Lieberman and Ben Platt, and starring comedic ensemble Gordon, Platt, Galvin, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, and Ayo Edebiri.

After snapping up the critically acclaimed Jonathan Majors movie Magazine Dreams out of Sundance, Searchlight has set a Dec. 8 theatrical release for the Elijah Bynum directed title; a date that’s right in line with the classics’ label previous awards season launches.

Searchlight beat out Neon, Sony Pictures Classics and HBO for this fierce drama in which Majors portrays a disturbed amateur bodybuilder. The pic, which Bynum also scripted, follows Killian Maddox (Majors), who struggles to find human connection in this exploration of celebrity and violence. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom in the bodybuilding world, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest. Taylour Paige and Haley Bennett also star in the movie along with Mike O’Hearn, Harrison Page and Harriet Sansom Harris. Jennifer Fox, Dan Gilroy, Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman produced. EPs are Majors, under his production banner Tall Street Productions, Luke Rodgers and Andrew Blau.

Majors recently starred in the early 2023 Marvel Studios hit Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which has grossed over $464M worldwide. In the pic, he plays the new MCU villain, Kang the Conqueror.

The pic won the U.S. Special Dramatic Jury Award at Sundance this year.

A year ago, Jonathan Majors embarked on a 29-hour drive from his home in New York City to Park City, Utah, where he unveiled the body building drama Magazine Dreams to rapturous reviews at the Sundance Film Festival. It was the start of what was supposed to be a banner year, which was to include blockbuster roles and an awards season campaign for Magazine Dreams.

That dream has been put on hold as the actor awaits a Feb. 6 sentencing for assault and harassment convictions following a March 2023 incident involving ex-partner Grace Jabbari.

The career fallout for Majors has been severe, with Disney-owned Marvel Studios dropping him as chief villain Kang the Conqueror hours after his conviction. And the fate of Magazine Dreams is still in the balance at esteemed specialty studio Searchlight, also owned by Disney.

Searchlight, home of numerous Oscar best picture winners, acquired Magazine Dreams after of Sundance in February 2023. The studio gave the film an awards friendly December release date, but pulled it from the calendar in October in the leadup to Majors’ trial.

A release by Searchlight is looking more and more unlikely.

Officially, Searchlight is maintaining radio silence on the project’s fate. Unofficially, sources close to the project do not see a scenario in which Searchlight opens the movie on the big screen, or on Disney’s more adult-skewing streaming service Hulu as some have speculated. Marketing the film would likely be problematic, including because of its themes of personal violence.

Yet others are confident the film will still see the light of day. Sources with knowledge of the deal say Searchlight could decide to return Magazine Dreams to the filmmakers, who could shop the film to other buyers.

Magazine Dreams hails from writer-director Elijah Bynum, who first penned it as a tale of isolation and alienation during the early days of the pandemic. He put the script aside for a year before one day seeing Majors’ face on a Los Angeles city bus and becoming inspired to rewrite the film for the actor specifically. It stars Majors as Killian Maddox, an amateur body builder who battles personal demons.

Majors trained for 18 months to transform himself physically for the role, which critics have compared to Robert De Niro’s work as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. The film shot 24 days around L.A. and ultimately landed the creative vision jury prize at Sundance.

“It’s an all-in performance for the ages, layered with as much vulnerability as anger, and it’s to Majors’ credit that our hearts ache for Killian even — or perhaps especially — when he’s out of control,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter chief film critic David Rooney out of Sundance. “Majors and writer-director Elijah Bynum manage the considerable feat of making us fear more for the intimidating colossus than the quivering employer he’s standing over.”

After Searchlight acquired the film, sources say the plan was for Bynum to fine tune a cut of the feature for its theatrical release, though it’s unclear if work commenced on this new cut. What is clear: Sundance already felt like a soft launch for a Majors’ Oscar campaign.

“It would have 100 percent been in the awards conversation” had it not been for Majors’ legal troubles, says one source connected to the film.

As for Majors, he is attempting to reframe his public image and perhaps save his career. In an unusual move for someone awaiting sentencing, he granted a broadcast interview that has been airing this week on ABC. Asked by ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis if he believed he would work in Hollywood again, he stated: “Yeah. I do. I pray I do.”

EXCLUSIVE: Magazine Dreams, the drama that came out of Sundance with Oscar buzz for Jonathan Majors’ intense portrayal of a troubled aspiring bodybuilder, will finally get its chance to flex on movie screens.

Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights to the critically acclaimed film, with plans to release in the first quarter of 2025.

In Theaters March 21

Killian Maddox is consumed by his dream of becoming a world famous bodybuilder and one day gracing the cover of fitness magazines. He lives a lonely, regimented life, and his relentless drive for perfection only pushes him deeper towards self destruction, but beneath his tenacious pursuit of superstardom lies a desperate, aching need for human connection. As he battles both the limits of his physical body and his own inner demons, MAGAZINE DREAMS explores the lengths one man will go in his haunting quest for recognition in a world that often overlooks him.