Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

has finally started to gain traction with its video-on-demand release.

The first installment of Costner’s new Western franchise severely underperformed

at the summer 2024 box office, which resulted in the direct follow-up sequel Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 to be pulled from its set theatrical release date of August 16. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is, however, showing new signs of life and currently tops VOD rental charts. It seems like Costner took a page out of his Yellowstone handbook by banking on his success with at-home audiences.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 stars Costner as Hayes Ellison during the pre-Civil War United States. The entire planned 4-part movie series is set to take place between 1861 and 1865, just before the start of the U.S. Civil War. The ensemble cast of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Ella Hunt, Owen Crow Shoe, Tatanka Means, Tom Payne, Abbey Lee, Will Patton, and Giovanni Ribisi. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is currently available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and through several cable services.

Horizon’s Poor Box Office Performance Explained
Horizon – Chapter 1 had a worldwide box office total of $33 million

Even though Kevin Costner doesn’t appear early on in Horizon – Chapter 1, Horizon was still Costner’s first directorial effort since 2003’s Open Range and should have theoretically drawn more of a box office presence. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 had a 50% drop in its worldwide box office on its second weekend. While this alone isn’t bad for a big budget movie, it still needed a less significant decrease to have any chance of saving the film’s box office performance. Horizon – Chapter 1 ended up with a worldwide box office total of roughly $33 million against a reported budget of $100 million.

The hefty 3-hour 1-minute runtime of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 may have provided one of the strongest cases for audiences to wait until the film became available to rent and purchase at home. The lackluster box office performance of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 isn’t aided by its mixed reviews and 48% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, although its audience score is much higher at 70%. Nevertheless, Horizon – Chapter 1’s immediate VOD popularity is the best possible thing that could have happened to Costner’s budding franchise at this point.

The recent VOD success of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is certainly a promising sign, but may not have too much of a lasting effect on what appears to be Costner’s doomed franchise. Considering that Costner has already produced, funded, and set a release date for Horizon’s immediate sequel, and is also struggling to raise funds for his anticipated Horizon – Chapters 3 & 4, the box office woes of Horizon – Chapter 1 create an incredibly unusual circumstance for him and his once-promising franchise. Any sound investor will not be willing to throw money at Horizon’s future installments even with Costner’s acclaim and status.

Now that the first Horizon has made a swift move to a VOD release, it may be the lifeline that the franchise needs in order to draw fans to theaters in August, but it also may not be nearly enough to salvage the franchise. Since Horizon – Chapter 2 was pulled from theaters as a successful method of damage control, there’s still time for the first film to gain momentum, although that’s a tough thing to bank an entire 4-part movie series on. Costner may use his VOD success to work out an exclusive streaming deal with Paramount and CBS as they may be the only way he can keep his initial franchise plan intact.

What’s Going To Happen With Horizon 2, 3 & 4?
Horizon 2 is still likely to be released in some capacity

Horizon 3 and 4 have not even started production yet, which could turn out to save Costner from essentially setting more of his own money on fire. Costner will likely find a way to release Horizon 2 in time, although it’s rather embarrassing to have to pull its theatrical release due to the original film’s box office failure. Regardless, Kevin Costner is still Kevin Costner, an Academy Award and Primetime Emmy winner, and the face of one of the most celebrated series currently on television, whether he’s in it or not. Costner may have to compromise on his original vision of his Horizon: An American Saga series, but Horizon 2 is sure to come out one way or another.