The story of Kevin Costner’s epic Western, Horizon: An American Saga, is one that news outlets and the movie community have analyzed as one of the biggest gambles that a modern-day movie star has gone into with a passion project. For months, it has been reported on the sacrifices that Costner has made in his career and his personal life to put his vision out into the world. This included stories of his marriage and his popular TV series, Yellowstone, being put in jeopardy as he paid all of his attention and effort into the massive undertaking of directing and starring in a multi-part epic in a genre that is no longer known for having its finger on the pulse of audiences.
The gamble does not seem to be paying off for Costner as his first chapter had opened with a dismal response and Warner Bros. would both dump the film on video-on-demand mere weeks after its theater premiere and the release of Chapter Two has been pulled with no foreseeable reschedule. It has been a month since the first film hit digital and Deadline now has the date that historical epic is planned to drop on the streaming service Max. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One is set to exclusively stream on Max starting on Friday, August 23.
Although Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two has been pulled from the release schedule, the next chapter in Costner’s story will be making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this September, along with a screening of the first chapter. Despite the unfortunate turn of events for his passion project, Costner is appreciative that it will still somehow reach an audience. Costner stated, “My dream was always to show Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two at the Venice Film Festival. 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.”
The Horizon director and star continued to say, “I’m indebted to [Venice Film Fest director] Alberto Barbera for his courage and leadership in committing to this cinematic journey. It is with gratitude and excitement that I return to the Venice Film Festival. Long live the movies and those willing to stand for them.”