Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Films Are On a Brink of Becoming His Career’s Biggest Failure as Fate of Chapter 2 Looks Depressing After First Movie

A star of the late ’80s and ’90s, Kevin Costner must have never imagined that television would finally make his dreams come true. The past had a very specific disdain for the “lesser” class of entertainment value that television provided, in their opinion. However, with time, perspectives shifted and actors migrated more toward a mixed career over film as well as television, with Costner reaching the peak of the Western genre through Yellowstone.

With Kevin Costner’s career now aiming for a steep downhill arc, fans band together to sympathize over the once-great Western movie star’s bygone days. The bold and ambitious star who plowed through such humiliating projects as Waterworld and Wyatt Earp deserved to enjoy some liberties in his career’s third act. Yellowstone was meant to do just that.

Although the Taylor Sheridan series was meant to be his legacy, the A-lister’s 30-year-old passion project Horizon, and his growing obsession with it over time has only courted more controversy.

Kevin Costner Invites Criticism With Horizon Films

Yellowstone failed to deliver the last hurrah in Kevin Costner‘s filmography. The Oscar-winning actor was always determined to follow through with his dream project, Horizon: An American Saga. With heavy themes about the foundational history of the American West and its people in general, Costner carved out a very specific genre-defying tale with his saga. Insomuch, he says:

There’s a moment in time where you want [your children] to see this movie. To understand that this is what their [ancestors] went through. It’s not just a Western, it’s a history of migration and what they had to do to survive. And I’m really proud of it.

However, not every person looks at it through a similar shade of rose-colored glasses. Horizon was a messy production from the very start. With financial and logistical troubles plaguing the film, the actor invested almost $38 million of his own money and mortgaged 10 acres of his $50 million oceanfront Santa Barbara property to drive Horizon across the finish line.

Despite such faith in the films, not only has Horizon failed to make an impact in theaters but has also tanked commercially. The Western couldn’t break even at the end of its theatrical run, let alone compensate Costner’s own investment. Rather, the film courted derision from critics who complained about the film being a “bloated ego trip” and its “bland and animatronic” characters [New York Post].

Fate of the Horizon Franchise Remains at Stake

The first Horizon film received a nearly 10-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere. Kevin Costner, who had walked away from Yellowstone, borne criticism and doubt from every single person ranging from his fans to his therapist, and gambled chunks of his life’s savings into making this movie was understandably moved to tears at the show of such resounding praise.

However, the rest of the world could not share Cannes’s enthusiasm for the movie. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 premiered on June 28, 2024, in the US with Chapter 2 scheduled to release on August 16. However, given the poor box office performance of the first part, Warner Bros. has pushed back the launch of the sequel to September 7, when it will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Sounding optimistic about the recent development, Costner claims:

That was a nice development over there. They understand that it’s a saga. That part is exactly how I imagined it. I didn’t ever imagine [the releases to be] six weeks apart, it was always four months, or six months.

However, not everything is necessarily going according to plan. Kevin Costner’s project is in more trouble than ever as he struggles to find funding for the third film. With four chapters to make Horizon whole, one can only imagine the franchise’s dire fate when even the first film failed to break even and the second had to be removed from its theatrical schedule.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is available for renting/buying on Apple TV.