If you’re reading this, you probably are pretty well aware of the story behind Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon: An American Saga.’ After quite a bit of hype, the first chapter of the film saga was released a little over a month ago and bombed. From there, the sequel—already filmed and ready to release—was pulled from the release schedule. But it appears there might be a little life left in the Western franchise than we realized.
READ MORE: ‘Horizon’: New Line & Kevin Costner Decide To Pull ‘Chapter 2’ Off The Release Schedule
According to the Venice Film Festival, “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter Two” is getting a world premiere at the upcoming fall event. Not only that, but the fest is playing ‘Chapter One’ earlier that day before the premiere. So, if you didn’t watch the first film in theaters or streaming (probably a lot of people), then you can catch them back-to-back.
“My dream was always to show ‘Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter Two’ at the Venice Film Festival,” Costner said. “The fact that now they have decided to show ‘Chapter One’ earlier in the day and then the world premiere of ‘Chapter Two’ that evening shows not only their belief in how the two films work together but their support of a director’s vision. I’m indebted to Alberto Barbera for his courage and leadership in committing to this cinematic journey.”
Alberto Barbera, Venice director, added, “It is a great pleasure and honor to host the world premiere of the chapter two of ‘Horizon: An American Saga,’ alongside its chapter one. This late addition to the lineup of the Venice Film Festival pays a heartfelt and respectful tribute to the visionary project of a great actor and director, who invested himself in the epic reconstruction of the years crucial to the founding of the country, digging beyond myth in search of authenticity capable of restoring a piece of history in its complex and contradictory reality.”
The big question after learning about this news is whether or not this signals an impending release date for ‘Chapter Two.’ As of now, there has yet to be announced a release date for the sequel, and many people assumed it would be pretty far in the future. Recent reporting claims that Warner Bros. and Costner wanted as many people as possible to watch ‘Chapter One’ on streaming before releasing the sequel. Interestingly, there were also reports that streaming companies approached Costner about buying the sequel and releasing it on their platform, but Costner didn’t want that.
All that to say, there are still quite a few questions about ‘Horizon’ that we just don’t know the answer to. However, we now know the film is getting a high profile world premiere at one of the biggest film festivals of the year. So, we’ll have to see how it does.
The Venice Film Festival begins on August 28.