‘Magazine Dreams’ Unset As Jonathan Majors Faces Trial; Actors Strike Pushes Disney’s ‘Elio’ & ‘Snow White’ To 2025
In the wake of Warner Bros’ pushing the Robert De Niro gangster pic Alto Knights to later in 2024, release date changes are aplenty for Disney due to the actors strike, but also Jonathan Majors’ ongoing legal woes.
To no surprise, Searchlight won’t be opening the actor’s Sundance critically acclaimed drama Magazine Dreams on Dec. 8 as Majors faces a trial date on Nov. 29 for a domestic violence case involving his ex-girlfriend from March this year. No word on what happens next to Magazine Dreams, but if all goes well for Majors, the calendar will indeed require plenty of product in the New Year. Searchlight still has their Venice Film Festival-winning Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos-directed Poor Things going on Dec. 8, a title which is prized for awards season.
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In regards to the actors strike’s impact on the Disney schedule: Forget about shifting 2024 movies deeper into next year; they’ve been completely subtracted and pushed to 2025.
Disney/Pixar’s Elio goes from March 1, 2024 to June 13, 2025, while the Rachel Zegler starring Snow White, which has generated a lot of controversy online, goes from March 22, 2024 to March 21, 2025. Disney already had the latter date on reserve which doesn’t have any wide entries on it. On June 13, 2025 Disney had that date on hold as well; an untitled Universal movie already there.
The Marc Webb directed Snow White stars Zegler in the title role and Gal Gadot as the evil Queen.
Zegler faced a racist backlash online due to her casting, but told Variety in an interview that “Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries” and expressed pride at playing “a Latina princess.” She also called the character of Prince Charming, who awakens sleeping Snow White with a kiss, as “a guy who literally stalks her” in an interview with Extra TV.
There’s also an untitled Disney pic which is getting moved from Feb. 14, 2024 to April 5, 2024.
Disney recently pulled New Regency’s The Bikeriders from its planned December 1 theatrical launch, partly due to AMC’s Beyonce concert film on that day, but also due to the ongoing actors strike, and the starry cast of Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and Jodie Comer’s inability to promote during awards season.
Majors’ year began vibrantly with awesome reviews of Magazine Dreams and Searchlight acquiring the movie for a potential awards season launch given the actor’s turn as a tormented amateur bodybuilder. Majors then had two tentpoles in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania in which he made the big screen debut (after an introduction on Disney+’s Loki season) as Kang The Conqueror; that movie grossing $476M global with Creed III making $275M-plus worldwide.
The actor’s momentum came to a halt after his arrest in March with Majors being dropped from various projects; Marvel is still in a wait and see mode on Majors as Kang the Conqueror in future movies.
Majors is facing misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident in and around his Chelsea apartment on March 25. Although Majors was the one who called 911 at the time, NYPD officers on the scene found a number of marks, “a laceration” and a finger fracture on now ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari and arrested Majors. He was released within hours after a hearing in front of a judge and has pleaded not guilty.
Majors is facing up to a year behind bars if found guilty on claims being prosecuted by D.A. Alvin Bragg’s office. It is unknown right now if Majors will be present, either virtual or in-person, in Judge Michael Gaffey’s courtroom Wednesday.
Yesterday, less than 24 hours after a New York judge rejected Majors’ request to have the domestic violence case against him tossed out, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said they weren’t prosecuting the Loki actor’s accuser.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has officially declined to prosecute the case against Grace Jabbari because it lacks prosecutorial merit,” a spokesperson for DA Alvin Bragg stated Thursday morning. “The matter is now closed and sealed.”
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