The second installment of Kevin Costner's “Horizon: An American Saga” was pulled Wednesday from its August release schedule.
It's such a long and complicated story that I don't even know where to begin. Long story short, Costner has poured his entire career into making the four Horizon films, and apparently even started his own film studio to support the franchise. After the first one flopped at the box office in June, the release of the second one appears to have been postponed indefinitely.
The film was scheduled to be released on August 16th. according to According to Variety , the film has a planned theatrical release date, but as of this writing, there is no official theatrical release date set (sorry, but that's too easy).
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 17: Kevin Costner attends a conversation with Josh Horowitz about the film 'Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1' at the 92nd Street Y on June 17, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
American actor Kevin Costner signs autographs for fans as he attends the US premiere of Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, California on June 24, 2024. (Photo by Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 24: Director, writer and actor Kevin Costner and family attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One at the 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 made the decision not to release Horizon: Chapter 2 on August 16 in order to provide more opportunities to see the first Horizon film on PVOD, Max and more in the coming weeks,” a New Line Cinema spokesperson told Variety. “We thank our exhibition partners for their continued support in helping moviegoers across the U.S. see the film during its theatrical release.” (RELATED: Taylor Sheridan's 'The Landman' gets official release date in 2024)
Horizon: Chapter 1 is set to hit streaming services on July 16th, and I'm pretty excited for it. Part of me sees this as payback for Costner abandoning Yellowstone before it was finished, but the Horizon trailer looks pretty epic. Still, I think releasing a project like this in the summer is a stupid move.
Most of the people who want to watch this content are outside barbecuing until the sun goes down and their necks are red. I say this based on primary data to back up my claims.
The decision to move the second film's release date was mutually agreed upon, a source told Variety, and while this might work, it still wouldn't look great. (Related: “Yellowstone” Creator Launches New Passion Project, and I'm All In
Costner recently claimed he put $38 million of his own money into the first movie. It had a total budget of $100 million, but only made $11 million in its opening weekend. Still, it ranked third. Hopefully the move to streaming will help. That's the only way Yellowstone fans can forgive him for disappointing us… and I'm not sure we can.
