As it stands, Deadline is hearing around $800k in Thursday previews for Kevin Costner’s three-hour epic, “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1.”
A $10M-$12M opening is being eyed for Costner’s passion project, which is the number we’ve been touting for a few weeks now. The report goes on to add that ‘Horizon’ could be a slowburn at the box-office, not a one-shot, and might have some legs in the coming weeks.
Best to assess this movie’s success in its first ten days, as many take a summer break this week. It was reported this week that the first chapter in Costner’s 4-part saga cost $110M to produce. The second instalment, set for release in August, cost around the same price.
It’s obviously this massive risk for Costner as he spent $40-$50M of his own money to produce it, and it’ll be interesting to see if middle America shows up for ‘Horizon.’ Reviews stand at 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I don’t think that will deter older-skewing audiences from showing up for this one.