The August theatrical release for the second chapter of Kevin Costner’s ambitious Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga” has been canceled after the first film fizzled in theatres. New Line Cinema announced Wednesday that “Horizon: Chapter 2” will not hit theatres on Aug. 16 as scheduled.
The studio had planned an unusually fast back-to-back release for the two “Horizon” films. But after the first chapter collected a modest $23 million in its first two weeks in theatres, the distributor pivoted. “Territory Pictures and New Line Cinema have decided not to release ‘Horizon: Chapter 2’ on August 16 in order to give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment of ‘Horizon’ over the coming weeks,” a spokesperson for New Line said in a statement.
For now, the release of “Chapter 2” will be marked TBD on the theatrical calendar. The first “Horizon,” which opened in theatres on June 28, will land on premium on-demand July 16. No streaming date on Max has yet been announced.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the shift in plans. The move is a humbling acknowledgement that Costner’s big theatrical gamble for his decades-long passion project has failed to catch on with audiences. The first chapter of “Horizon,” which debuted in May at the Cannes Film Festival, cost some $100 million to make, making its path to profitability extremely challenging if not impossible.
Costner put some of his own money into it, and has already.
