Kevin Costner’s Western Box Office Bomb Finds New Life On Streaming As Fans Hope For Sequel

Two years after the release of the first chapter of Kevin Costner’s planned four-part Western movie series, it still remains to be seen when the second movie will see the light of day. It might help that the first installment is enjoying a streaming resurgence, as that could bring some renewed attention to the franchise.

Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is streaming on Prime Video, and it has just cracked the platform’s list of the top 10 movies available in the United States (per FlixPatrol). The feature debuted in movie theaters in June 2024, but it underperformed, making less than $39 million against a $50 million budget. It also garnered mixed reviews from critics, though there are many who say the movie is vastly underrated and didn’t earn the success it truly deserves.

The Future of the Western Saga Is Still Unclear

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 had a similar budget and was even screened a few months later at the Venice International Film Festival. However, due to the underwhelming box office performance of the first film, it was announced that the planned wide release of Chapter 2 had been delayed indefinitely until further notice. A new release date has not yet been set in the time ever since, even though the sequel is already complete, having been seen by those who were in attendance at VIFF in 2024.

According to reports, some scenes for Chapter 3 have been filmed, but production has since went on hiatus. Costner has consistently expressed his hopes that he will one day be able to finish the third and fourth movies, with all of them eventually being released at some point. The actor and filmmaker has shared that the saga has been fully written, as the screenplays for Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 are ready to go. Costner has notably poured in much of his own money into getting these movies made, but he’s still likely to find investors to contribute a lot more to get all of the funding he needs to wrap the story up.

Kevin Costner Is Joined by an Ensemble Cast

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is set over the course of the American Civil War, exploring how the events affected the lives of settlers, soldiers, and Native Americans amid the expansion of the American frontier. Costner plays Hayes Ellison, a wandering horseman who gets entangled with a woman and child fleeing a dangerous family. There are other storylines that follow different characters, and the complex storylines lean into how this isn’t a traditional good-versus-evil Western.

Along with Costner, the saga also stars Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Will Patton, Jamie Campbell Bower, Giovanni Ribisi, Danny Huston, Jena Malone, LUke Wilson, Tatanka Means, and Michael Rooker.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is streaming on Prime Video.