As it remains in a state of limbo, Kevin Costner’s four-part Western “Horizon: An American Saga” has already been marked for dead by some industry insiders, with one person telling me that the best case scenario for the second chapter, which premiered at Venice, would be a straight to Max release.
Yes, things aren’t looking very bright for Costner’s saga, and with the third film having only been partially shot, his wallet is looking at a major hit in the excess of $75M, maybe more. These downer numbers still haven’t stopped Costner in seeking financing, especially from Saudia Arabia, to complete the third and fourth films.
Puck’s Matt Belloni is now reporting that, despite ‘Part 1’ flopping in theaters and ‘Part 2’ having been pulled by Warner Bros, Costner’s WME team have been, incredibly enough, shopping around a ‘Horizon’ behind-the-scenes documentary to buyers. The total hubris of this man is astounding.
Costner believes a streamer would pay for an “earnest chronicle” of a notorious bomb. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Part 1’ has done okay on Max, and there could very well be an audience on streaming for ‘Part 2,’ but does anyone actually want to watch a documentary about the inner workings surrounding this saga?
Earlier in the year, Costner had repeatedly stated that he would be shooting ‘Part 3’ this fall, but that clearly hasn’t materialized. He shot nine days’ worth of footage in April, but production had to “temporarily” shut down due to lack of funds.
There is currently no release date for ‘Chapter 2,’ which was pulled from Warner Bros’ summer schedule after the first instalment, which cost $110M, failed to lure an audience into theaters, earning just $29M domestically.
‘Chapter 2’ received weak reviews out of Venice, but I’ve spoken to readers who really want to see it, so there’s definitely an audience, albeit of small-ish nature, out there for Costner’s passion project to be completed.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.