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The Problem of Horizon



A man in 1800s Western wear facing to the right with text The Problem of Horizon



After officially surpassing $25M at the global box office almost two weeks after its premiere, Horizon: An American Saga is in trouble. The second installment, originally planned to debut on August 16, has had its in-cinema date postponed indefinitely. Self-financed, starring, directed, co-written, and produced by Kevin Costner, the franchise follows the expansion of the American West. 


Costner revealed in an interview that he broke one of the golden rules of Hollywood: don’t put your own money into a movie. In one interview, he confessed to contributing $38M of his own money for the production of the film. The film, which cost about $100M to make, only earned $11M in its opening weekend domestically. 


Skewing towards an older age range demographic, of which typically have a lower in-cinema attendance rate, the disappointing box office numbers lead to the WB decision to table the sequel for now. Originally, Costner planned Horizon as a four-part series. 


Are Westerns irrelevant? Do Millenials, GenZ, and Gen Alpha care about Westerns? Well, Costner left the immensely popular Yellowstone, a contemporary Western series-turned-franchise, to film the Horizon series. The Yellowstone "universe" now includes 5 seasons, 2 spin-offs, and 2 more rumored spin-offs. Millions of viewers watched the multiple iterations of Yellowstone, but that viewership didn’t translate to the box office for Horizon. Are Yellowstone fans still upset over Costner's exit from the franchise? Did they retaliate by skipping the film? Or, have Westerns become largely a TV genre for now? The Yellowstone universe continues to expand and there have been a number of recent award-winning westerns on TV: Deadwood, Hell on Wheels, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Westworld, Godless, Justified, Longmire, Frontier, and others. If Westerns have shifted from the big screen, is the fate of the rest of the Horizon Saga destined for streaming releases?


Horizon: An American Saga was released on VOD on July 15th. Costner is hoping the series will reach more viewers via streaming and will gain popularity so Chapter 2 will regain a release date. Now slated for a premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Chapter 2 will hopefully garner more interest amongst moviegoers. Although, Chapter 1 originally premiered at Cannes in May and it failed to meet box office expectations. Will a run at Venice prove to be more successful for Chapter 2?


With a roughly 3 hour run-time, some viewers may enjoy it more at home. Intermissions at cinemas were a hot topic last year with moviegoers, cinemas, and studios all weighing in. Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City (2023) has a run time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, but the film was distributed with an optional intermission. Horizon, which previously mentioned skews toward an older demographic, might have benefited from an in-cinema intermission for bathroom breaks and concessions refills. Subsequent chapters of this franchise could be more successful releasing on streaming only without any in-cinema showings.


Ultimately, Horizon has a 48% rating amongst critics and 70% score via audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. As mentioned, there’s been speculation about the cost to make the film, the run-time, and the targeted demographics, but not as much buzz about the quality of the film. Maybe, the film–although the idea has been floating in and out of Costner's consciousness since the ‘80s–is not the type of film we expect from a decorated megastar like Costner. And, the word-of-mouth for the film has been minimal. This franchise needs an infusion of word-of-mouth marketing coupled with a quality product to succeed. 


Over the coming weeks, keep an eye out for streaming numbers for Horizon, additional announcements from WB, Chapter 2's performance at Venice, and comments from Costner himself to determine the in-cinema feasibility of the rest of the franchise and to solve the problem of Horizon.



Let us know your thoughts on the future of the Horizon series and Westerns in the cinema in the comment section.




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