The first installment of Kevin Costner’s partially self-funded Western film trilogy, “Horizon,” did not perform well at the box office, leading one of its stars to blame social media.
Actor Michael Rooker, best known for working on projects such as “The Walking Dead” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” told TMZ that he believes audiences have shorter attention spans now than they did in the past. The 69-year-old noted that the movie was more than three hours long because it tells an important story.
“It’s real cinema, folks. So be prepared. We ain’t used to that sh**. We’re used to 90-minute movies. Everything’s 90 minutes…Get over that sh**,” the actor told TMZ.
He added, “Let’s watch a movie that actually tells a story. Where you learn about the people and grow to like them — or hate them. It’s not all fast, cut, cut, cut.”
When asked if short-form content like clips on TikTok were to blame, he said, “Totally, they are. Of course they are. They gotta get over that crap…They gotta learn what it’s like to watch real cinema.”
Rooker also had high praise for Costner, who has been working on his passion project for decades before bringing it to the big screen this year.
“[Costner] is brilliant in this. He’s a brilliant director. And he has the ability to pick absolutely the cream of the crop [of actors],” he told the outlet.
“Horizon” had a slow start of an opening weekend, bringing in just $11 million last weekend against a budget estimated to be near $100 million, per Variety. Costner contributed heavily to the film from his personal funds to the tune of $38 million.
Costner told Entertainment Weekly that he wasn’t concerned about the movie’s initial performance.
“If we put so much pressure on that, we’re bound to be disappointed,” Costner told the outlet in an interview published the day of the film’s nationwide release. “I’m really happy that ‘Horizon’ looks like what it’s supposed to look like, and that’s the way it’ll look the rest of its life. And that’s really important to me in this process.”
.png){kind=logo}
.png)
.png)
