Kevin Costner has bid farewell to the successful neo-Western series Yellowstone as he dives deeper into his new film series, Horizon: An American Saga. The film series is divided into four parts of American epic westerns that are directed, co-written, and produced by Kevin Costner himself. Of course, he also stars in them. The first chapter of the saga has recently been released with the actor playing the role of Hayes Ellison.
Kevin Costner has a lot at stake as he spent a good amount of his own money in financing his dream project. Thus, a good box office return should be one of the things he looks forward to the most. However, it looks like money isn’t much of a concern to him.
Kevin Costner Talks about Horizon’s Box Office Performance
Kevin Costner reportedly spent around $38 million from his bank account to finance Chapters 1 and 2. Needless to say, it would be ideal if Costner could make his money back. But if he doesn’t, he probably wouldn’t be losing a single night’s sleep over it.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Costner stated that pressure to make it big at the box office will only result in heaps of disappointment. As far as he is concerned, he is extremely happy with how the film turned out which is more important to him than anything else.
In Costner’s words,
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.
Would he love it if the film brought in big bucks? Of course. But would he be upset if it doesn’t? Probably not.
The Yellowstone actor said,
Would I love that it would be highly, highly successful. Of course, I’d like that. My ego would like that; everyone would like that. But I am happiest that the movie that you and I are talking about looks the way I want it to look.
Who wouldn’t want their project to do well and reap benefits after benefits? However, Costner is not one to sit back and dwell on the misfortune of his films if they don’t perform well. For him, his final product being satisfactory in his eyes is more valuable than any amount of money and we couldn’t respect him more for it!
Kevin Costner’s Horizon – Chapter 1 Fails to Impress Critics
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is projected to gross somewhere around $10-15 million during its opening weekend as per Variety. After its Thursday night previews, the film was able to rake in just $800 thousand from over 3 thousand locations.
As for what the critics have had to say about it, Chapter One has a low score of 39% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critical consensus reading,
Kevin Costner doesn’t lack for ambition as he sketches this frontier saga across the widest of canvases, but Horizon’s first chapter proves too diffuse in scope for it to satisfy as a self-contained endeavor.
New Yorker’s Richard Brody called out the film for rushing “through its many stories and straight past American history.” On the other hand, The Atlantic’s David Sims stated that even though the film “might not be ‘watchable,’ for some, it’s enough to make him want to go back for more.
Clearly, the critics have mixed opinions on Costner’s film which means there is still hope for the tetralogy after all. As for the fans, they seem to be loving the film so far as they gave it an adequate score of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 250+ verified ratings. Only time will tell if Costner was able to hit the ball out of the park with this one or not.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is currently in theatres and Chapter 2 is scheduled to be released on August 14, 2024.
