Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga could lead to the same kind of Western revival he accidentally kickstarted in 1990. Westerns were once one of the most popular genres in Hollywood, but audiences became thoroughly jaded with them by the time the ’60s came around. That’s not to say they died off completely, but outside the work of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne, they became less of a safe bet.
Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns like Once Upon a Time in the West gave them a much-needed boost, but they were all but extinct by the 1980s. Westerns will never recapture their former popularity, but occasionally there will be a major success story, like The Hateful Eight or the True Grit remake. Kevin Costner’s upcoming Horizon movies are hoping to give the genre a shot in the arm too.
Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves Led To A Short-Lived Western Comeback During The ’90s
Horizon could kick off its own Western revival
Dances With Wolves
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- Director
- Kevin Costner
- Release Date
- March 30, 1990
- Writers
- Michael Blake
- Cast
- Kevin Costner , Mary McDonnell , Graham Greene , Rodney A. Grant , Floyd Westerman , Tantoo Cardinal
- Runtime
- 181 minutes
- Budget
- $22 million
Horizon is seen as a major financial risk, but if they perform well, Costner stands to make a lot of money. Costner’s hopes of making Horizon’s Chapters 3 and 4 are also riding on the first two installments turning a profit. The star’s gamble recalls his directorial debut Dances with Wolves, another project he invested his own money in. That movie was labeled a vanity project prior to release, with the press even labeling it Kevin’s Gate, riffing on the notorious 1980 Western bomb Heaven’s Gate.
Instead, Dances with Wolves grossed $424 million worldwide (via The Numbers) and swept the Oscars, with Costner nabbing a Best Director trophy. More than that, Dances with Wolves’ success signaled to studios that, after a long drought, audiences wanted to see Westerns on the big screen again. Within the next five years, movies like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, Tombstone, Legends of the Fall and Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead hit theaters.
For a time, it seemed the revival might stick, but moving into the late ’90s, VFX-heavy blockbusters such as Independence Day and Armageddon became the focus for most studios. Even Costner’s post-apocalyptic Western The Postman bombed hard when it arrived in 1997, which seemed to signal the fad was over.
Is Kevin Costner’s Horizon Based On A True Story?
Kevin Costner’s latest American Western epic is set before and after the U.S. Civil War, raising the question of just how accurate the story will be.
Why Major Studios Avoided Making Westerns During The ’80s
Two words: Heaven’s. Gate.
The 1980s was the worst decade for Westerns by a considerable margin, with few being produced. The genre had noticeably declined during the ’70s, with Eastwood taking a long break following The Outlaw Josey Wales, while many of John Wayne’s later movies underperformed. Younger audiences began to gravitate towards contemporary stories, while the success of Jaws and Star Wars would have a gigantic impact on the business moving forward. The movie that truly slayed Westerns for about a decade was Heaven’s Gate, which cost an eye-watering $44 million to produce but only grossed $3.5 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
Costner’s Horizon Gamble Could Lead To Another Big Screen Western Comeback
There’s hope for the genre on the Horizon
Decades on from Dances with Wolves, major studios are rarely willing to take a chance on Westerns. They still get made of course, but unless a filmmaker like Tarantino is behind them, it’s tough for the genre to break through. Costner is no stranger to the genre, with his TV series Yellowstone being a modern-day Western itself. He’s betting big that fans of his show will follow him into the theaters when Horizon Chapters 1 and 2 are released.
Every Kevin Costner Western Movie | Release Year |
|---|---|
Silverado | 1985 |
Dances with Wolves | 1990 |
Wyatt Earp | 1994 |
Open Range | 2003 |
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 | June 28, 2024 |
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 | August 16, 2024 |
The star himself is seemingly at peace with the idea both films could fail, but the hype surrounding them suggests otherwise. At the very least, it would be nice for the third and fourth Horizon movies to get made off the back of the first two.
Horizon: An American Saga
Horizon: An American Saga is a Western film directed by Kevin Costner, and sees him in the starring role. The film explores multiple generations surrounding the expansion of the American West before and after the Civil War. Horizon is the first in a series of four films, all of which were greenlit by Warner Bros. Pictures.
- Director
- Kevin Costner
- Release Date
- June 28, 2024
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Cast
- Kevin Costner , Sienna Miller , Sam Worthington , Luke Wilson , Giovanni Ribisi , Thomas Haden Church , Jena Malone , Abbey Lee , Michael Rooker , Danny Huston , Isabelle Fuhrman , Jeff Fahey , Will Patton , Tatanka Means , Ella Hunt , Jamie Campbell Bower
