Ten months ago, Jonathan Majors bodybuilding drama Magazine Dreams landed at the Sundance Film Festival with notable force, setting the tone for what was lining up to be the biggest year of Majors’ career: Marvel success on the one hand—through Disney+ show Loki and his major role in the then-upcoming third Ant-Man film—and flourishing indie cred on the other, thanks to a performance that drew pretty much uniformly rave reviews in Elijah Bynum’s film, about a man who pushes his body to the limits in pursuit of stardom. Disney-owned Searchlight snapped the movie up a month after the festival (right around the time Ant-Man was coming out), ultimately setting it for a December 8 release.
Seven months ago, though, that upward trajectory was knocked heavily off course, when Majors was arrested on assault charges related to an alleged domestic dispute. In the wake of the incident—which is now set to go to trial next month—several business entities cut ties with Majors, with his management company and PR firms both dropping him, an ad campaign with the U.S. Army getting shuttered, and at least one film role being re-cast. But Disney stuck firm, making it clear that Majors wouldn’t be edited out of, or even have his presence reduced in, Loki, where he’s been a front and center “special guest star” in its last two episodes, his face literally carved into the walls of its time-travel police agency, the TVA.
Today, though, Disney revealed at least one big shift: It’s pulling Magazine Dreams from its schedule amidst a wider reshuffle, notably not bothering to re-set the movie at a later point some time in 2024. Partly, that might just be prudence: Majors’ character in the film, Killian Maddox, is prone to violent rages as a result of steroid abuse, which could potentially impact the actor’s public perception as the trial proceeds. But it’s also notable for being the first time Disney has seriously blinked in its support of the actor, who’s been placed at such a central point of its ongoing plans that an upcoming Avengers movie, The Kang Dynasty, carries (one of) his characters’ names. It’s not hard to take the move as evidence of a “wait and see” attitude at the studio, with the fate of the November 29 trial potentially having major implications for the company’s relationship with Majors going forward.