Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga is all set to grace the screens at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. The film is a passion project of Costner that was first conceived in 1988 and the Yellowstone star has been pitching the grand-scale project to several studios since the early 2000s. According to reports, the film’s final runtime is 3 hours & 1 minute, the same as that of Costner’s Oscar-winning Western film, Dances with Wolves.
However, the runtime is just for Chapter 1 of the two-part film which will be released back-to-back in June and August. Fans of Costner’s cowboy dramas are ready to invest their three hours in his passion project and they expect nothing short of an Oscar-worthy film.
Kevin Costner’s Horizon Runtime Is The Same As That Of His Oscar-Winning Film
Kevin Costner‘s dream project screens at Cannes more than three and a half decades since he commissioned the idea for it. Horizon: An American Saga was greenlit only in January 2022, with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema joining the production (via Deadline). Now, the film has released its runtime, a long 3 hours and 1 minute duration.
Kevin Costner’s ‘HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA’ final runtime is of 3 hours & 1 minute. pic.twitter.com/L0nJQBeUtT
— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) May 8, 2024
Fans couldn’t help but notice the similarity of the very specific runtime with another Kevin Costner project. In 1990, the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves actor directed and starred in the Western revival flick, Dances with Wolves. The film received several accolades including Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. The film’s theatrical cut also had an original runtime of 3 hours and 1 minute (via IMDb).
Fans on X shared that Costner was an excellent storyteller and needed the time to flesh out the story. One fan shared that even the 4-hour extended cut of Dances with Wolves was amazing to watch. They shared that every second of the upcoming film will be worth it despite the audience showing some reluctance to spend that much time in the theaters.
Several fans also agreed with this comment, sharing their excitement for Costner’s project. One comment suggested that 3 hours wouldn’t be a problem as long as the story had some engaging elements and good twists. Some also pointed out the director’s obsession with adding that one extra minute. Fan reactions read:
No surprise there as Kevin is an excellent storyteller who loves long films. Dances With Wolves was 4hrs for instance. Some may be reluctant to go see it in theaters due to it’s length but I think it will be worth every second. Word of mouth will help find it’s audience.
— Ricardo Matos (@thehitman29) May 9, 2024
Nice, pumped for this.
— Joel Squire (@JoelTSquire) May 8, 2024
Something amazing is coming.
— hasan2221 (@ha10800) May 8, 2024
I don't mind if it's 3 hours as long as the story is good, keeps me engaged, some good twists. Dances with Wolves I think is 3 hours and I consider it a masterpiece of filmmaking. Oppenheimer was around 3 hours and didn't stop people from going to theaters. Best of 🤞 to Kevin
— Phillip Derkowski (@PhilD333) May 9, 2024
“Kevin, we can get this to a clean 3 hours”
“No.”
“But Kevin, it’s so easy….”
“I said no God damn it!”— Mehul Desai (@TechNoirUK) May 8, 2024
Costner’s film is something worth looking forward to, given his directorial venture in Dances with Wolves beat Martin Scorsese‘s Goodfellas at the Oscars. According to Box Office Mojo, Costner’s 1990 film earned $424.2 million at the worldwide box office against a $22 million budget.
Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves Survived All Odds And Horizon Also Expects The Same
Some fans of the actor are not happy with his new project, provided how it ruined his role in Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowstone. However, Costner is known to survive such negativity and skepticism, even with his Oscar-winning film. Dances with Wolves was rejected by several directors before he decided to step into the director’s shoes as well.
He revealed in an interview with Deadline that he had approached three famous directors with the script. All of them tried to impose their vision onto the script and wanted Costner to change certain aspects of the script. However, Costner spent his entire money on the project and was not willing to leave anything out of the script. He shared with Deadline:
“I know when I was making Dances with Wolves, they were calling it ‘Kevin’s Gate,’ even though they didn’t know that I put all my money into this thing. I actually asked three other directors to direct it before me. They each had kind of very pronounced ideas about what they wouldn’t leave in the movie. What I knew was, I wasn’t as good as any of those other directors. But I wasn’t gonna leave anything out.”
Dances with Wolves is now available for streaming on MGM+. Horizon will premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2024. Chapter 1 of the film will be released in theaters on June 28, 2024, while Chapter 2 will be released on August 16, 2024.
