Kevin Costner’s Horizon’s biggest criticisms could’ve been addressed properly if it followed Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone’s format.
A couple of years earlier, Kevin Costner was the revered cowboy character John Dutton, whom everyone seemed to love. However, Costner seems to have lost his footing in the Old West. With his Yellowstone exit and the disastrous outcome of the first part of his passion project Horizon, Costner has fallen far as an actor and filmmaker.
Kevin Costner’s 3-hour-long passion project set in the Old West, Horizon, did not make any of his fans jump up and down in theaters with excitement. However, the Dance with Wolves star could’ve worked wonders if his four-part-long films followed one aspect of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone.
Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga could’ve succeeded as a series like Yellowstone
Kevin Costner‘s Horizon: An American Saga ended up being a failure, grossing only $38.7 million after Costner invested $50 million of his own money in the first part (via The Numbers). He has put another $50 million into a second part, which had its release at the Venice Film Festival last year but has yet to hit theaters.
Horizon failed to click with a large section of the audience mainly due to how he chose to roll out his film. The film’s biggest criticism was that it failed to entertain the audience as a self-contained film. The first film out of four long films involved a lot of context-setting and the three-hour runtime definitely didn’t help.
Even before the first film hit theaters, he announced the filming of a second and third part of the series. It is expected that the total story of Horizon would be 12 hours long. Many fans believed that Costner made a huge mistake by bringing his story to the big screen rather than the small screen.
One criticism of the movie drives this point home. Costner had a multitude of characters but he was unable to balance these characters well on screen. No character seemed to be getting the focus in the first film. Meanwhile, a series like Yellowstone was able to set the focus on the right character at the right time. The series didn’t have the pressure of the movies to establish all of the characters right away.
The demanding nature of Costner’s story needed a series treatment but he believed that he could earn a boatload of money after dividing the whole film into four installments. The result was the first film that felt incomplete for the audiences.
Despite the failure of the first film, Costner intends to complete the production of the third film. Costner’s new production company, Territory Film Studios, is investing in these next two parts. However, others suggest that the director move the last two parts to television as a series.
Kevin Costner believes Horizon – Part 1 to be one of the biggest films of 2024
Kevin Costner has turned to streaming success to measure how his film fared with the audience. Horizon: An American Saga – Part 1 began streaming on Netflix and the streamer reported that it was watched by over 40 million people, making it the most streamed film in January 2025.
Costner was excited about this small win and made some tall claims about his film. He shared that the Netflix success six months after the film’s release was an indication that his film was one of the biggest films of 2024. He shared with Decider at the Santa Barbara International Fest Festival:
I think it’s interesting that the movie came out six months ago and people are still finding it with little push from anywhere. It’s out there. It’s standing amongst the biggest movies of the year and it was streamed more than them. It tells me that people want to go places in their heart and their mind.
Interestingly, many fans of the actor still believe that he can bounce back with the rest of the films in the Horizon Saga. Costner’s underdog success with his 1990 Western classic, Dances with Wolves, should be a reminder to all fans that he can make absolutely stunning films.