Since the assault allegations were first leveled at Jonathan Majors, the actor has been ditched by both his representatives and several upcoming film projects and advertising campaigns, while Marvel Studios continues to promote the digital and on-demand release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania by pretending that the actor doesn’t exist.
Any company with an investment in once-promising young talent is in danger of taking a serious hit should he end up being officially charged and convicted of any wrongdoing, and while Marvel will probably be sweating more than most after tying Majors down to a $20 million deal to headline Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, that’s not the only problem he’s causing for Disney.
Following rave reviews out of Sundance this past January, the 33 year-old was tipped as a potential early candidate for a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards for a tour-de-force performance in bodybuilding drama Magazine Dreams. The following month, Disney subsidiary Searchlight Pictures swooped in to secure the distribution rights for the film, and handed it an awards-friendly release date of December 8.
Regardless of what happens between now and then, Majors’ career, standing, and reputation within the industry are going to be in a markedly different place eight months from now when Magazine Dreams hypothetically hits the big screen. Should things end up going the way a lot of people are expecting them to, though, then the company is left holding onto an acclaimed independent feature starring someone who may well have been blacklisted by that point, adding another wrinkle onto the ongoing situation.