Well, that didn’t last long. After spending weeks talking about how his new film “Horizon” had to be seen on the big screen, it appears Kevin Costner is feeling the heat of a big bomb and changing course.
According to THR, Kevin Costner and New Line have come to the decision to pull “Horizon: Chapter 2” from its August release date. This comes on the heels of two really bad weeks at the box office for the first film. Not only that, but you don’t even have to go to the theaters to see “Horizon: Chapter 1,” as it is bound to arrive on PVOD on July 16 with a Max streaming debut to follow after.
“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, including on PVOD and MAX,” said a New Line spokesperson. “We thank our exhibition partners for their continued support as moviegoers across the US discover the film in its theatrical run.”
Of course, New Line and Costner wanted everyone to see “Horizon” in theaters, but pundits were predicting this outcome months ago when Costner announced his incredibly ambitious plans. Let’s not forget that Costner’s full plan includes two additional sequels still to be produced. If he was struggling to find financiers before the film hit theaters, you know it’s going to be incredibly difficult now after the film has bombed.
How big has it bombed? Well, it’s reported that the film cost $100 million to produce, with Costner footing the bill for $38 million on his own. Now, after two weekends, “Horizon” has earned only $22 million. It’ll be lucky to hit $30 million by the end of its run.
This has to be the worst case scenario for Costner. We’ll have to wait and see how long he holds onto ‘Chapter 2’ before trying to release it in theaters. Perhaps it might be sold to a streaming service? Who knows at this point?