You might’ve heard about Kevin Costner’s ambitious four-movie epic western project titled Horizon: An American Saga, but chances are you didn’t show up to watch the first part in cinemas. Now, the box office disaster is so bad that Warner Bros. Pictures (through New Line Cinema) has removed Chapter 2 from the theatrical schedule.
The news (via THR) arrived on July 10, roughly two weeks after the first part’s release in cinemas. Reviews weren’t kind to the first installment of the ambitious endeavor, and the movie has barely scratched $25 million worldwide, with more than $23 million coming from the United States. Long story short: it sure sounds like modern audiences only want to watch their westerns at home.
While expectations surrounding the movie’s financial performance weren’t super high, this comes across as a surprisingly brutal flop, especially when we take into account the sheer success of Yellowstone and its spinoff shows with TV audiences. Costner departed that ‘universe’ to focus on his long-planned four-part epic, which was a passion project he’s been cooking as early as 1988, and we’re certain he hoped to transfer some of that prosperity to Horizon.
“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 U.S. discover the film in its theatrical run,” a New Line spokesperson said about the planned release date for the second entry. Horizon’s first half was always envisioned as a two-part summer event. Since almost no one showed up, the sensible choice here seems to test the waters on PVOD and Max, which might be more suitable markets for a western epic.
Regardless, the ultimate destination of Chapter 2 isn’t the biggest concern here, since it’s already finished. Parts 3 and 4 have their scripts ready, but their future is looking bleak at the moment, and it remains to be seen if they’ll move forward at all. Looking at the aforementioned success of Yellowstone and its companion series, maybe there’s a path forward for Horizon as a complete saga in streaming, but westerns that cost more than $100 million to produce (with Costner himself footing a huge chunk of the bill) aren’t at the top of Hollywood’s list of priorities right now.