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    Jonathan Majors’ “Magazine Dreams” lands theatrical release for early 2025

    By SHOOTNo Comments139 Views
    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)

    By Jake Coyle, Film Writer

    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.”

    Tags:Briarcliff EntertainmentJonathan MajorsMagazine Dreams



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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