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Credit: Inside the MagicKevin Costner must be wondering if leaving Yellowstone to make Horizon: An American Saga, his epic Western dream project, was worth it right now.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Kevin Costner was not only one of the biggest box-office draws in the world, he was also one of the most critically acclaimed directors. Movies like The Untouchables (1987), Field of Dreams (1989), and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) were colossal commercial successes, but it was Dances with Wolves (1990) that won him two Academy Awards, one for Best Picture and one for Best Director.
While Costner has dabbled in every genre, from post-apocalyptic science fiction to spy thrillers to superhero movies, he has always been associated with Westerns. After a period of relative inactivity, he unexpectedly shot back up to the top as John Dutton, the patriarch of a clan of ranchers in Yellowstone, the massively popular Paramount Western series.
A single show (created by Taylor Sheridan) has become a sprawling franchise, but much of that success has to be credited to the presence of Costner.
Related: Kevin Costner Breaks the News on ‘Yellowstone’ Cancellation, Unexpected Premature End
Unexpectedly, Kevin Costner announced that he was leaving Yellowstone, essentially walking away from one of the highest-paid roles on television and the part that turned him back into a huge star. Although he has somewhat denied it, it has been assumed that the actor left the show to make an epic, four-part Western titled Horizon, a passion project that he would direct, produce, co-write, and star in.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 was released on June 28 and almost immediately sank like a stone. It pulled in $11 million on its opening weekend, which is not particularly promising for a movie that reportedly cost in the neighborhood of $100 million (and was at least in part personally funded by Costner). The film did not even manage to crack the top five movies in theaters right now (per The Numbers).
Costner pooh-poohed the idea that opening weekend numbers were the ultimate arbiter of a film’s success (per Entertainment Weekly), saying:
“I’ve lived with movies and what happens to them on their opening weekend. If we put so much pressure on that, we’re bound to be disappointed. I’m really happy that Horizon looks like what it’s supposed to look like, and that’s the way it’ll look the rest of its life. And that’s really important to me in this process.”
But it turns out that New Line Cinema, Horizon‘s distributor (via Warner Bros. Pictures), is not thrilled about the movie’s opening weekend.
Although Kevin Costner has reportedly banked on the streaming and TV licensing rights for the film to make it money, both he and New Line Cinema also put a lot on the line with a unique release strategy that would see the second part of Horizon released on August 16, a mere seven weeks after the first film.
It was a bold, unprecedented strategy that bets on the strength of Kevin Costner in one of his Western roles, a huge cast of recognizable character actors like Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, and Jena Malone, and audiences flocking to theaters for a three-hour post-Civil War ensemble movie. It did not pay off, and now it appears the studio has lost its nerve.
The release of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 has been canceled (per The Hollywood Reporter), with New Line and Territory Pictures (Costner’s production company) reportedly hoping that leaving the first film in theaters and bringing it to VOD on July 16 will boost enough awareness of the series to bring in box office grosses at a future point.
Related: ‘Yellowstone’ Starring Kevin Costner Content Removed
However, while it might be framed as a “reschedule,” Horizon 2 does not have a new release date and has been pulled from calendars entirely. Not a good sign.
A statement from New Line reads:
“Territory Pictures and New Line Cinema have decided not to release Horizon: Chapter 2 on August 16 in order to give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment of Horizon over the coming weeks, including on PVOD and MAX. We thank our exhibition partners for their continued support as moviegoers across the US discover the film in its theatrical run.”
Notably, no release date on Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform, has been announced, either.
Territory Pictures released its own statement:
“The audience response to Horizon, and enthusiasm for seeing our story continue in Horizon 2, has been incredibly gratifying. Kevin made this film for people who love movies and who wanted to go on a journey. The support that we have received from film fans, and the theater owners, as they experience the first chapter of this saga only serves to reinforce our belief in them and the films that we have made, and we thank them for coming on board for the ride. We welcome the opportunity for that window to be expanded as we know it will only serve to enhance the experience of seeing Horizon 2.”
Horizon 2 is reportedly already completed and premiered earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival, so it may be released at some future point. On the other hand, Warner Bros. Discovery is notoriously willing to entirely shelve completed films in order to take the benefit of tax loopholes; it is entirely possible the same could happen here, depending on how good of lawyers Kevin Costner has.
Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1 is currently playing in theaters. Kevin Costner directed it from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Baird, based on an original story by them and Mark Kasdan. It stars Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, Giovanni Ribisi and Jamie Campbell Bower.
Is Kevin Costner finished as a director?