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Good news! Remember the film everyone keeps begging Hollywood to make? The one that returns to old-fashioned values of layered storytelling and real-world spectacle? Created by a seasoned, impassioned artist rather than a soulless business model? That goes out of its way to cater to the older audiences typically not that well-served outside of awards season? And in which voguish political agendas are nowhere to be found? film? Well, someone has finally made it. And the industry is convinced it’s going to flop. Kevin Costner’s über-traditional western epic canters into cinemas this Friday, following a much-memed premiere last month at Cannes.

(It received a seven-minute standing ovation, during which the stoic face of its director and star grew streaked with manly tears.) The film is its director-star’s in 21 years – and by all accounts he was prompted by the success of the contemporary western streaming series , in which he starred until recently, and which in the United States draws more than 12 million regular viewers. Unfortunately, though, that audience doesn’t yet appear to have bought many tickets.



According to the latest figures, Horizon is likely to take around $10 million at the US box office on its opening weekend: around a fifth of opening a few weeks ago, and two thirds of the gen-Z love triangle tennis drama Challengers. Here in Britain, where westerns are relatively niche, that suggests it is likely to open on the wrong side of the talismanic £1m ma.

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