The second installment of Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga” was yanked from its August release date Wednesday.
It’s hard to know where to start with this one as it is such a long, convoluted story. The short version is that Costner seems to have sunk his entire career into creating four “Horizon” films, even launching his own movie studio to support the saga. The first installment bombed so badly in the box office in June that the second film’s release seems suspended indefinitely.
The film was supposed to come out Aug. 16, according to Variety. But at the time of writing, there is no official theatrical release date on the horizon (sorry — too easy).
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 17: Kevin Costner attends a conversation about the film “Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter I” with Josh Horowitz at The 92nd Street Y, New York on June 17, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
US actor Kevin Costner signs for his fans as he attends the US premiere of “Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1” at the Regency Village theatre in Westwood, California, June 24, 2024. (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 24: Director/writer/actor Kevin Costner and family at the Los Angeles Premiere of “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1” at Regency Village Theatre on June 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)
“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,” a New Line Cinema spokesperson told Variety. “We thank our exhibition partners for their continued support as moviegoers across the U.S. discover the film in its theatrical run.” (RELATED: Taylor Sheridan’s ‘Landman’ Gets Official 2024 Release Date)
“Horizon: Chapter 1” will hit streaming services July 16 and I am kind of excited about it. Though part of me sees this situation as karma for Costner’s abandonment of “Yellowstone” before its conclusion, the trailer for “Horizon” is pretty epic. I still think it is stupid to release a project like this during the summer though.
Most people who want to watch this type of content are outside grilling, letting their necks get red ’til sundown. I say this with primary data supporting my argument.
The decision to change the release date on the second film was mutual, sources told Variety. While it’ll probably workout better this way, it still doesn’t look great. (RELATED: ‘Yellowstone’ Creator Launches New Passion Project, And I’m All In)
Costner recently claimed he sunk $38 million of his own money into the first movie. The overall budget was $100 million, but only brought in $11 million on its opening weekend. And even then, it ranked third. Hopefully the move to streaming will help. It’s the only way fans of “Yellowstone” might forgive him for letting us down … and even then, I doubt it.
