Summary
Kevin Costner’sHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2was supposed to hit theaters today, but it now faces an uncertain future, along with its two planned sequels. The first chapter of the Academy Award winner’s passion project was released at the end of June, and the plan was to release the sequel right away, given that they are two parts of a single overarching narrative.The ending ofHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1left each of the separate story threads unfinished, with the idea that the audience would be able to pick them up just a few weeks later.
DespiteHorizon’s impressive castand breathtaking Western cinematography, the movie simply didn’t land with the general audience.Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1bombed at the box office, earning just $34.3 million on a budget of roughly $50 million, with $50 million more dedicated to the already-producedChapter 2. AfterChapter 1failed to make an impact, there was an indefinite theatrical delay placed onChapter 2, leaving the entire franchise on unsteady footing.
Horizon: An American Saga Absolutely Should’ve Been A TV Show Instead Of Movie Franchise
The disappointing box office returns and critic reviews for Horizon: An American Saga prove that Kevin Costner chose the wrong format for his series.
Why Horizon 2 Was Pulled From Its Original July 03, 2025 Release Date
Disappointing box office returns from Chapter 1 forced the delay
TheHorizon: An American Sagafranchise has been something that Kevin Costner has pursued in Hollywood for more than 30 years. to make it a reality, he funded the project with his own money, famously leveraging properties in order to come up with the budget needed. After its disappointing box office run,Chapter 1arrived on VOD earlier than anticipatedwith the hope that it would find a larger audience if it was streaming. The numbers didn’t bear that out, and ultimately the decision was made to pullChapter 2from its August 16th, 2024 release date.
Kevin Costner reportedly contributed $38 million of his own money to the production of the first two chapters ofHorizon: An American Saga.
With the dismal returns fromChapter 1, the entire future of theHorizon: An American Sagais now in doubt. Costner and the team behindHorizonwere largely reliant on the box office profits from the first two chapters to fund the production of the third and fourth chapters, but with the first movie failing to even cover its own production costs, they were forced to re-evaluate.Delaying the theatrical release ofChapter 2hopefully avoids another box office disaster, and gives the team time to figure out an alternative plan for the franchise.
Horizon 2 Will Premiere At Venice Film Festival - But A Theatrical Release Isn’t Confirmed
The festival premiere is a good sign, but no guarantee
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024 before it hit theaters, and the new plan is forChapter 2to follow a similar plan.Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2will now premiere at the Venice Film Festivalin September, and to hear Costner tell it that was something he wanted to happen from the beginning:
My dream was always to showHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter Twoat the Venice Film Festival. The fact that now they have decided to showChapter Oneearlier in the day and then the World Premiere ofChapter Twothat evening shows not only their belief in how the two films work together but their support of a director’s vision.
The fact that the prestigious Venice Film Festival is willing to giveChapter 2its world premiere is a vote of confidence in the quality of the sprawling epic, or at the very least a vote of confidence in Costner himself. The reason behind debuting at a massive film festival is fairly clear: Costner hopes to drum up positive reviews and word-of-mouth for the sequel before it hits the greater box office. Whether that will be effective remains to be seen, and as it standsthere is no guarantee thatHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2will ever get a theatrical release.
Will Kevin Costner’s Horizon 3 & 4 Happen?
It will all come down to financing
The delay onChapter 2might be better in the long haul for the franchise, but in the meantime it casts a large shadow of doubt over the remaining sequels.Production onHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 3has reportedly stalleddue to lack of financing, as Costner poured everything he had into the first two movies.Planning a four-part story was always going to be a dice roll due to the lack of financingfor all four parts, but it was one that Costner was willing to attempt given his strong belief in the project.
Costner originally planned for each of the four movies to have roughly a three-hour runtime, meaning the entire saga would cover 12 hours of content.
Unfortunately, the possibility thatneitherChapter 3norChapter 4ever gets completedis very much on the table. What happens withHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2will play a major role in whether the franchise gets completed to match Costner’s original four-film vision, and with no theatrical release in place it’s impossible to project the chances forChapter 3andChapter 4. It’s possible that the series gets completed in some capacity, either in episodic television format or in an abridged movie form in the future, but the immediacy that Costner originally intended seems to be impossible now.
Horizon: An American Saga
“Horizon: An American Saga” is a series of epic Western films directed, produced, and co-written by Kevin Costner. The saga spans pre- and post-Civil War America, detailing the exploration and settlement of the American West over 15 years, and follows multiple storylines of fictional characters as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of this tumultuous period.
