So, Kevin Costner hasn’t given up on ‘Horizon 3.’ If you’ve been following the “Horizon: An American Saga” experiment, and at this point, that’s what it is, you’ll know it’s shaping up to be one of Hollywood’s most fascinating case studies in stubborn auteurism.
A new THR expose confirms that Costner still believes he’s making his “Once Upon a Time in the West,” even if no one else does.
When Costner first pitched “Horizon,” he was told it would cost $130M. Costner thought he could do it for $70M. It’s the kind of math that only makes sense to a man willing to mortgage his $60M estate just to get the movie made. He poured $38M of his own money into ‘Horizon,’ then roped in Warner Bros. for domestic distribution. Against all warnings, he charged ahead with not one but two films, shot back-to-back.
The first chapter premiered at Cannes, where Costner got his ten-minute standing ovation — a festival tradition that means absolutely nothing. Critics were far less generous. The reviews were brutal, and the film limped to just $11M its opening weekend. Warner Bros. promptly pulled ‘Horizon 2’ from the release calendar that summer.
Still, with the second chapter still not released, Costner very much plans to make the third one, he told GQ last year, “I need some more money — I do. I need some of these big billionaires with fucking boats to come with me and make a movie.”
That’s exactly what Costner did. The THR report says he’s flown to Saudi Arabia to meet with government officials about bankrolling Horizon 3 and 4. Costner gave the kind of speech the Saudis love to hear: “Saudi Arabia deserves its place on the world stage,” he told them. They offered to bankroll ‘Horizon’ for Costner, but not at the exorbitant asking price he was asking.
Since then, Costner’s been battered by lawsuits, investor disputes, and the lingering stink of a failed franchise launch. Yet, remarkably, he hasn’t stopped. His company, Territory Pictures, has been building a $100M studio in St. George, Utah — though construction seems to have stalled after Horizon’s poor performance.
So will ‘Horizon 3’ ever actually happen? Depends who you ask. Local officials in Utah insist it’s still on track. Either way, if ‘Horizon 3’ ever happens, it’s unlikely to find much success in theaters — which is why I keep wondering why Costner doesn’t just take the entire project to a streamer, where it would almost certainly draw far more viewers than any traditional theatrical release.