When Searchlight Pictures won the bidding war for distribution rights to Magazine Dreams a month after it premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, plans were already in place for Jonathan Majors‘ Oscar campaign. 

In her review of the haunting indie drama from promising writer-director Elijah Bynum, Entertainment Weekly’s Leah Greenblatt wrote that Majors is “impossible to look away from” as Killian Maddox, a loner and wannabe pro bodybuilder whose struggles to fit in sometimes lead to violent outbursts. 

When EW caught up with Majors at the film festival, he was on top of the world. Between sparring with Michael B. Jordan in the box office smash Creed III, earning an Emmy nomination for HBO’s Lovecraft Country, and making his big screen MCU debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as Kang the Conqueror, the franchise’s new Big Bad after the demise of Josh Brolin‘s Thanos, Majors knew he was primed to become Hollywood’s Next Big Thing.  

“I’m entering into something that is so massive, so mega,” he said, speaking with EW at a cafe in Park City. “I’m humbled, I’m excited. I’m full of energy for it.”

Just months later, it all went away. 

The day after Searchlight set a theatrical release date for Magazine Dreams, Majors was arrested following an altercation with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. When a jury found him guilty of two misdemeanor counts of assault and harassment, Marvel promptly fired him, and Searchlight, a fellow Disney subsidiary, quietly returned the rights to Magazine Dreams to its filmmakers. 

Now, two years later, the movie is finally coming to theaters thanks to Briarcliff Entertainment, the same small studio that recently brought the controversial Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice to theaters just weeks before the election. Rescuing passed-over films, what they call “distressed assets,” is part of the game plan for CEO Tom Ortenberg.

“The movie deserves a big broad release, and I’m proud to be the one shepherding that,” Ortenberg tells EW. “Nobody has to go see the movie. It’s certainly not my job to say anybody should go see the movie, but I do believe that it’s my place to say Magazine Dreams deserves the chance to be seen. Anybody who disagrees with that sentiment — and of course, they’re welcome to — but anybody who disagrees with that is suggesting that we should just burn the negative…Jonathan made a mistake. There was due process. He paid the price, and then, we move on.”

For Majors, that price amounted to probation and a 52-week domestic violence intervention program. While that was enough to satisfy the court, not everyone believes it earned him a second chance at stardom. “What do you get at the end of a 52-week domestic violence course? Do the victims get a debrief? How could I know if he’s changed? I don’t see redemption happening here,” Maura Hooper, one of two ex-girlfriends who gave a statement in Majors’ trial, told The Hollywood Reporter in its recent cover story featuring the actor. 

While Majors told the outlet he takes accountability for writing his own story, the article notes that his statements thus far, though potentially limited by a civil suit settlement with Jabbari, have frustrated those expecting a fuller apology. Asked directly what he wants to say for himself, both to detractors and any remaining fans, Majors told EW earlier this week, “I would say I’m here. The movie’s coming out, and everybody’s free to make their own decisions on their opinion of me and the movie. I would say I hope and pray you see it because there’s something there. There’s something there that I think can generate compassion and healing for anyone who watches it in their world. That’s got nothing to do with me. And if you’re a fan of mine, oh boy, do I love you, and I thank you, and don’t give up because I won’t give up. We are going to grow. And we’re going to heal. It may not seem all good now, but it’s not over yet.”

As for what he’s learned over the past two years, Majors added, “I think the highlight of it, through my pastor, my groups, my therapist, my other therapist, my wife-to-be, [is] you got to talk. I need to talk…I can only control my thoughts, my actions, and myself. Everything else is completely none of my business.”

In addition to his new wife, Meagan Good, who, along with his bible, appeared side-by-side with him in court throughout the trial, Majors has found support from famous colleagues. Whoopi Goldberg, Matthew McConaughey, and his Creed III director and costar Jordan all spoke out in his favor in The Hollywood Reporter, with the latter reasserting his desire to reteam for Creed IV.

When asked if he would return to the Creed films and, if the opportunity arose, the MCU, Majors says yes, but he wouldn’t be the same person he was before. “The version of me that would come back to those places would be different,” he insists. “I don’t think anything different would happen between ‘action’ and ‘cut.’ That’s why I got the job. But there would be something different about it if I were to come back, and I would like that. But as I said, it’s not in my control.”

Ortenberg believes there is “absolutely” a “path to redemption” for Majors, whom he now calls a friend. But as Briarcliff continues to become a safe haven for forgotten films, is there any line an actor or filmmaker could cross that would prevent him from making a deal? 

“Where do we draw the line? Should I say if they shot somebody on Fifth Avenue?” Ortenberg jokes, referencing a famous quote from the subject of his previous film. “To answer the question, I don’t know. I consider myself a free-speech absolutist. Some people say those words but don’t really mean it. Is there a line to be drawn somewhere? Sure. I don’t know that it’s my job to preemptively draw those lines, but I can tell you, in this case, like I said, I believe justice has been served, and my job is to distribute and market theatrical motion pictures. And I think Magazine Dreams is one of the best films I’ve had the privilege of working on in the last several years.”

What about those who argue that, in an industry teeming with talent and short on opportunities, Ortenberg’s rescue efforts should be directed toward titles that don’t star those convicted of assault, rehabilitated or otherwise? “Well, we have to evaluate every film on its own merits, and Magazine Dreams obviously was an already completed motion picture. We could hold it in our hands. We know what it is. It is, in my view, without question, a quality awards-caliber film.”

Plus, he adds, the film “was available on what we thought were good terms, so we think that the economic equation makes sense. And even though people like to talk about me in terms of ‘he’s the guy who will do controversial films that others are too scared of’ and things like that, we still have to build economic models. We don’t just pick up movies because they’re controversial. We don’t pick up movies so that somebody will write stories about us. We pick up movies because we have a business to run. And we’re a small company; we do our best, but we can’t track everything.”

Whatever the internal calculus, Majors is just glad to see the film coming to theaters. “I’m extremely grateful that the film is coming out. I feel fortunate that all the blood, sweat, and tears that we all put into it is going to be experienced by an audience because we made it for an audience.”

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Whether that audience shows up remains to be seen. Just days after his THR cover story, Majors’ comeback chances took another hit when Rolling Stone published a report alleging that he could be heard on an unearthed audio recording admitting to strangling Jabbari during a 2022 fight. (Majors representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment for the story, and an attorney for Jabbari declined to comment.)

“I saw the Rolling Stone article,” Ortenberg says. “What the impact of that is, I don’t know. It felt to me there wasn’t a lot of news there. But again, that’s not for me to decide. The movie-going public will decide if they want to see Magazine Dreams, and the movie-going public will decide if they would like to see Jonathan Majors back on his ascendance towards movie stardom.”

With the film in theaters today, audiences finally have that chance.