Jonathan Majors begins filming his first film since 2023, and it may sign his Hollywood comeback. Majors, who starred in hits Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, has reportedly begun filming an untitled motion film in South Carolina this week, marking his first main movie position since being dropped from a number of initiatives, even a high-profile Army recruitment campaign. The mission is being produced by Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and Dallas Sonnier’s Bonfire Legend.
The movie is directed by Kyle Rankin, who additionally wrote the screenplay. Rankin beforehand collaborated with the identical manufacturing corporations on Run Hide Fight, one in every of The Daily Wire’s earliest function initiatives. Plot particulars are being stored tightly beneath wraps. Still, the story is described as in the spirit of 1980s and 1990s action films like Red Dawn and Toy Soldiers, in which younger protagonists are pressured to defend themselves in opposition to invading enemies.
Producing alongside Shapiro and Sonnier are Travis Mills, Lillian Campbell and Sydney Aucreman. Executive producers embrace Caleb Robinson and Mike Richards for The Daily Wire, in addition to Majors himself beneath his Tall Street Productions banner. Cinematographer Kristopher Kimlin, casting director David Guglielmo, manufacturing designer Vincent Reynaud and costume designer Emma Fleming spherical out the important thing inventive group.
No launch date has been introduced.
Photo credit score: Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Pictures
The New Project at Daily Wire
The Daily Wire has steadily expanded its leisure division in current years, shifting past political commentary into scripted movie and tv. Its largest manufacturing to this point, the fantasy collection The Pendragon Cycle, marked a big step into mainstream style storytelling.
Majors’ casting suits a sample. The firm has beforehand labored with actors whose careers stalled amid controversy, including Armie Hammer and Gina Carano. Rather than competing instantly with conventional studios, The Daily Wire has positioned itself as a substitute pipeline for expertise and initiatives that may battle to search out backing elsewhere.
The new motion movie seems designed as a throwback: muscular, high-stakes, and stripped of heavy franchise baggage. For Majors, that simplicity could also be strategic. A contained motion movie permits him to reintroduce himself to audiences with out the burden of a billion-dollar franchise hooked up.
What Happened to Jonathan Majors
Just just a few years in the past, Majors’ trajectory appeared unstoppable.
After breakout acclaim in The Last Black Man in San Francisco and HBO’s Lovecraft Country, he shortly turned one in every of Hollywood’s most in-demand main males. He headlined Creed III reverse Michael B. Jordan and took on a serious position in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Industry insiders broadly noticed him as a long-term franchise anchor.
That momentum halted in 2023, when Majors was found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend. In the rapid aftermath, he was dropped from a number of initiatives and misplaced key studio help. Marvel lower ties. Other movie commitments evaporated. Within months, a profession that had been ascending at full pace got here to a close to standstill.
Since then, Majors has stored a decrease profile whereas pursuing new alternatives. He stays hooked up to star in the supernatural revenge thriller Merciless, introduced in 2024. But the Daily Wire mission marks his first manufacturing to maneuver into energetic filming because the conviction.
In Hollywood phrases, that makes this a real comeback try.
What This Could Mean for His Career
The query now could be whether or not this movie is a one-off or the start of a broader re-entry into mainstream filmmaking. Hollywood has an advanced historical past with second probabilities. Some actors rebuild by means of smaller impartial initiatives earlier than regaining studio belief. Others stay largely outdoors the system, working with various financiers and area of interest distributors.
The Daily Wire’s involvement complicates the equation. The firm’s model is politically distinct from most main studios, which may restrict crossover alternatives. At the identical time, if the movie performs properly commercially or generates robust viewers engagement, it could display that Majors nonetheless has drawing energy.
There can be the matter of notion. For some viewers, Majors’ conviction will stay disqualifying. For others, particularly in an business the place redemption arcs are widespread, the main focus could shift again to efficiency. His earlier work proved he can command a display. The open query is whether or not audiences are prepared to separate the artwork from the controversy.
From a enterprise perspective, impartial and ideologically aligned manufacturing corporations typically transfer quicker than legacy studios. If this movie succeeds, it may create a lane for Majors outdoors the standard Hollywood ecosystem. If it falters, it could reinforce the warning that has outlined studio decision-making since 2023.
For now, the optics are clear: cameras are rolling, contracts are signed, and Jonathan Majors is appearing once more.
