Lionsgate has been quick to wash their hands of Jonathan Majors after his assault verdict. Majors, who was supposed to star as Chicago Bulls player Dennis Rodman in 48 Hours in Vegas, has been dropped from the project following his recent assault conviction. In an interesting twist, Lionsgate has also dropped the project, putting it back in the hands of its producers until another studio can pick it up with a different leading man in Majors’ place. Lionsgate isn’t the only studio to have dropped Johnathan Majors, either.
Jonathan Majors Dropped as Dennis Rodman in Lionsgate Movie
Lionsgate first landed the rights to 48 Hours in Vegas way back in 2021. The movie, currently functioning under a working title, will follow Chicago Bulls player Dennis Rodman through one wild weekend in Vegas during the 1998 NBA finals. The biopic will follow Rodman’s unexpected friendship with his skittish GM, a relationship that Deadline says “neither one of them ever thought was possible but will end up solving both of their problems.”
Jonathan Majors was first cast as Dennis Rodman in September 2022, and he could juggle the role with Creed III, Loki and Antman and the Wasp: Quantamania. Now, following his conviction last month for the assault of his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, both Marvel and Lionsgate have wasted no time in dropping him from their current and future projects. Taking it a step further in the wake of the assault verdict, Lionsgate has also released 48 Hours in Vegas back to producers Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Aditya Sood, who will have to wait for another partner to come around with a different, non-convicted leading man to play Dennis Rodman.
Nothing else is currently known about what the producers have in mind for 48 Hours in Vegas going forward. Thankfully, the project was still in pre-production, and Jonathan Majors was the only known role cast in the film – until now.