A year ago, when Kevin Costner and now ex-wife Christine Baumgartner were in the weeds on their divorce proceedings, one of Costner’s arguments for giving Baumgartner less monthly child support than she was asking for was that his income was about to go down. He had quit Yellowstone — where he was reportedly earning $3 million an episode — in order to film his passion project, Horizon. In fact, Costner had even mortgaged his Carpinteria mansion (that he previously shared with Baumgartner) in order to finance Horizon. After debuting in Cannes in May, my question was whether audiences would judge that the movie was worth the farm. Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 was finally released over the weekend, and, well, the farm may be in trouble. The movie under-performed at the box office and got scathing reviews. Who could’ve predicted that a civil war-era, three hour drama billed as part one of four would fail to draw people to theaters?
Academy Award-winning legend Kevin Costner’s western “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” put up a worse-than-expected performance in its opening Friday, growing only $4.1 million on its way to a disappointing opening weekend — coming behind two major sequels, including John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place: Day One,” which posted a franchise record in its premiere on Friday.
New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Horizon: An American Saga —Chapter 1” grossed $4.1 million at over 3,300 theaters in North America in Thursday previews and its Friday opening, Deadline and Variety reported, putting the three-hour Civil War-era western on pace to collect $11.3 million in its opening weekend.
That debut puts the weekend projection for “Horizon” below its initial $12 million estimate, a bust for Costner, who shoveled $38 million of his own money into producing the film, which has a reported $100 million production budget.
It also comes well behind the projected weekend box office total for “A Quiet Place: Day One,” which is predicted to take in $53 million over the weekend after a $22.5 million opening night.
“A Quiet Place: Day One,” the third in the horror franchise, beat out both of its predecessors in its premiere, over the $18.86 million the 2018 original grossed in its first day, and the $19.36 million “A Quiet Place Part II” made in its opening in 2021, according to Box Office Mojo.
Still, both movies fall short of Disney and Pixar’s sequel “Inside Out 2,” which is projected to make another $55 million to $59 million over the weekend at the domestic box office, adding to its massive $411.91 million U.S. gross since its release earlier this month — making it the biggest movie of the year.
Costner stars in and directs “Horizon” — a movie that’s been in the works for 30 years — much like he did with 1991’s “Dances with Wolves,” which earned him an Academy Award for best picture and best director, as well as a nomination for best actor in a leading role. … Despite audiences giving “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” a tepid 68% score on Rotten Tomatoes, critics on the site have been much more harsh, rating it a dismal 39%, making it one of the worst-reviewed movies of the year. Critics on Metacritic, meanwhile, scored the movie only slightly higher, at 46/100. The New York Times called the film — the first of a four-part franchise — “busy” and “decentered” with a “crowded cast” and “multiple story lines” that lack context in a nearly three-hour western. The Guardian added the movie feels “oddly listless” and “doesn’t get much done in the way of satisfying storytelling.”
If only ticket sales correlated to title length, maybe Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1; In Which Kevin Loses His House to the Bank (and a creative exploration in punctuation) could’ve had a shot! (Seriously, the title is abysmal.) Chapter 2 has already been filmed, not sure about films 3 & 4. As stated above, this has been Costner’s dream project for decades. Sometimes, though, you can be too close to something to accurately see what shape it’s in. The cast has talked about wanting to deliver for Costner, knowing how important this was to him, but I hope they don’t shoulder the blame for its poor opening weekend. This is Kevin’s baby, through and through.
Full disclosure: I didn’t see any of these movies over the weekend. I’ve been quarantining at home with Covid (the cough is a bitch! And damn, Paxlovid really does leave an intense metallic taste in the mouth). CB saw A Quiet Place and said it was ok, but not as good as the other two Quiet Place movies. Another friend of mine had the same review, and he went to see it Thursday night specifically so he’d miss another horror show playing at that time. I’m beyond thrilled for Inside Out 2 to win the box office. Go Amy Poehler/Joy! The first one was such a powerhouse, so I’m happy to root for the sequel even without having seen it yet. Which I will rectify, as soon as I can breathe without coughing and my mouth no longer tastes like a tin can. Those are the dreams on my horizon…
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, IMAGO/Dave Bedrosian / Avalon
First off, I hope you feel better soon, Kismet! Covid is miserable (I had avoided it until last winter).
Next, who saw this coming on the Horizon? (Sarcasm) I wonder if KC will ever look back at his passion project and ruminate on destroying his family for this.
Get well soon, Kismet!
About Kevin Costner, I’m not surprised. First of all, hasn’t this movie (civil war themes) been done to death?! And he, himself, done this genre to death?! Is there anything new to say about it? I just can’t imagine he has anything fresh or new to offer.
Second, FOUR 3 hour movies?!? Helllllls no. Why didn’t he just make it TV mini-series? And third, I find him to be one of the worst actors out there. He’s wooden, stilted, monotone and boring AF. I cannot imagine watching 12 hours of him, scene after scene, mumbling and bumbling and searching high and low for some voice inflection.
Costner has basically been reciting his way through everything since Silverado. To call him wooden is to insult trees (respect the trees!).
Agree, this sounds like miniseries material, except Ken Burns already did it better. (Also David O. Selznik if you’re into the romance-fiction angle.)
So true. I apologize to trees. They’re beautiful and alive and have moved me more than any Kevin Costner performance.
The reviews weren’t good enough for me to sit for 3 hours. We saw The Quiet Place movie instead.
Covid sucks, hopefully you’ll feel better as fast as possible!
Thelma got our movie dollars this weekend. No one terrified, no one on a massive ego trip or big celebrities, just a low key story about aging. The funniest part was the audience of seniors reacting to aging jokes and realities.
Imho, no movie should be 3 hours long! In my perfect world, movies clock in at 1.5 hours tops if it needs to be longer than make a sequel. And honestly, any type of “western” movie is not going to be getting my box office dollars and probably not my streaming dollars either. I had to sit through way too many as a kid and refuse to as an adult.
3 hours! That’s incredibly long to sit in a theatre.
He really does love epic movies.
I semi enjoyed his acting, Bull Durham is one of the few actually seen. Dances with Wolves always sounded terrible to me.
As for A Quiet Place, the entire premise is just silly. The opening scene of the first movie (spoiler just in case) when the youngest dies? No parents walk like that. They don’t walk so far ahead of the kids. It was stupid. The kid giving the batteries back? Dumb. She full well knew what sound would do. Plot holes like that, it’s so ridiculous. Stupid movie. Sorry John 🤷♀️
To those of us old enough to remember Waterworld and The Postman, this is no surprise.
Yep. Costner may be a very likeable star when it comes to taking the reins on a horse, but he’s not got a good track record in taking the reins on a movie.
I hope you feel better soon! Covid is the pits- and you’re reminded me that i need another booster.
Celebrity vanity projects are almost always a bad idea and seem often to be disasters.
There is a reason people say NO to certain things- and yes, it is often about studios protecting their millions/billions- but- there is a reason filmmaking is collaborative.
Because some egomaniacal man has been told he’s genius for 40 years, and he fully believes it- and schadenfreude is kinda funny- but a huge waste of time and money and a lot of people’s efforts.
The only surprise here is that this mediocre actor keeps getting his boring ridiculous passion projects funded, decade after decade. Or no, maybe that should not surprise me either
The only funny thing about that movie was how the DM tried to make Sienna Miller happen for two weeks straight.
He is a terrible filmmaker and needs to just go back to acting. He doesn’t seem to ever learn lessons. Waterworld should have been the big hint – and the fact that he had to shovel so much of his own money into Horizon shows that no one wanted to finance it. And they were right not to. He has terrible instincts in regards to not only what to focus his time and money on but also what audiences want to see. This is 2024 – not 1990. People are not interested in these types of films anymore. And haven’t been for decades. He is incredibly out of touch.
100% @ameerah m and this box office flop also couldn’t happen to a nicer guy lol.
Maybe Christine B. also saw the writing on the wall and decided to finally make a break from this controlling jerk?!
He didn’t direct Waterworld, but he did direct the bomb that came after that, The Postman. I think his dwindling box office record as an actor is indicative that he should stick to TV or supporting roles in films because his name is not a draw for audiences anymore and hasn’t been in 30 years.
Horizon is a Netflix movie. These type of movies are no longer a draw at theatres unless the story is really great.
This sounds like a “guy” film, something my husband would see ( with a little prodding to go into an actual theater). 3 hours is the deal breaker. My guy can make it possibly 2 hours, preferably less. Outdoor, keep moving and busy , retired men don’t sit still that long. I don’t think Costner did his research on the target audience.
My husband and I saw it and loved it. First time in a movie theatre in a long time. Since Barbie!
The truth is that it should have been a mini series. It was way too long to be in the theatre. But I’m invested now and will see the next one.
This is a small thing that is probably personal to me, but I live in Texas where we have scorpions. I literally have a phobia. I was happy that he (briefly) showed the horror of those little vile creatures!
3 hours! No…2 hours is my limit. My husband is asleep at 1.5, we did like Waterworld and the baseball movie but not because of him. And is that him with a mustache in one of those pictures?
Vanity project.
Take care Kaiser! I heard that A Quiet Place was phenomenal, so I’m going to take a chance and go. I have no plans on seeing Kevin’s movie at all.
Ain’t nobody here for a 3-hour movie. I don’t care if that makes me uncultured. I have ADHD and if a movie is meandering and not wrapping it up around the 90 min mark then I am gone. I have never watched a movie that needed to be over 2 hours long. Nevarr.
Didn’t Costner literally say he made “movies for men” but was looking to cast strong female leads for Horizon?
I don’t think the men showed up for him.
Oh hold up, I did not realize Sienna Miller was the freaking lead in this movie. People in this thread are criticizing Costner’s acting but does no one realize that Sienna Miller cannot act at all??? She has been a big negative in everything she’s ever appeared in. I have never seen her on screen and been grateful for her performance.