Kevin Costner admitted his Horizon film wasn’t an “overwhelming success.”
The 69-year-old Yellowstone actor invested a large portion of his personal fortune into making the first of a series of epic westerns, which he has now followed up with Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2.
He said at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where the sequel was set to make its world premiere after being scrapped from its original August 16 release date, that the premiere had been postponed following the screening of Chapter 1, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in theaters in late June.
Of the first installment, which received mixed reviews and grossed only $11 million in its opening weekend on a $100 million budget, he said: “It wasn’t an overwhelming success.”
But the Dances with Wolves star added optimistically: “I’ve made a lot of films that way, which have stood the test of time.”
Kevin Costner has admitted his ‘Horizon’ film wasn’t an ‘overwhelming success’, seen here at the 2024 Venice Film Festival
Kevin added that the studio behind Horizon originally planned to release the sequel six weeks after the first film’s release, but they backtracked and decided not to release the film in mid-August.
But he added: ‘For me, it fit back into my plan, which was that I always wanted to release films five to six months apart.
“And that would make it possible for me to come to Venice. I would never have come to Venice, because they won’t show the film here if it was already out.”
Kevin added that Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera was “the main reason” the project was able to screen at the Venice Film Festival and praised him for “bringing this here.”
He continued: ‘(He) gave me my dream and didn’t let it be crushed. F***, Venice keeps saving me.’
Kevin previously said on Instagram about his reception in Venice: ‘I owe a great debt of gratitude to Alberto Barbera for his courage and leadership in embarking on this cinematic journey.
‘It is with gratitude and enthusiasm that I return to the Venice Film Festival. ‘Long live the movies and those who are willing to stand for them.’
Horizon chronicles a multifaceted 15-year span of the expansion and colonization of the American West before and after the Civil War.
The 69-year-old ‘Yellowstone’ actor has poured a large portion of his personal fortune into making the first of a series of epic westerns, which he has already followed up with Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, set to screen at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
He said at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where the sequel was set to have its world premiere after its original August 16 release date was scrapped, that the film had been pushed back following the screening of Chapter 1, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in theaters in late June, set to screen at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
He said of the first installment, which received mixed reviews and grossed just $11 million in its opening weekend on a $100 million budget: “It wasn’t an overwhelming success,” seen at the 2024 Venice Film Festival
The films feature an ensemble cast, with star directors Kevin, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Giovanni Ribisi, Ella Hunt, Danny Huston and Luke Wilson also sharing the screen.
Filming for Chapter 3 of the film saga began in May 2024. Chapter 4 is in development.
Costner financed the film himself, admitting that he put $38 million of his own money into the project after spending decades searching for a studio willing to make the film.
He even took out a loan using his Santa Barbara home as collateral, after trying in vain to finance it for more than 30 years.
