Kevin Costner’s Second Part Of Western Saga Pulled From Theaters Ahead Of August Release

Kevin Costner’s second part to his western movie “Horizon: An American Saga” has been pulled from theaters ahead of its August release.

In a statement from Costner’s Territory Pictures and distribution partner New Line Cinema, it was announced that “Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter 2” will not be getting a theatrical release on August 16 after the first chapter has struggled at the box office.

“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,” a spokesperson for New Line Cinema told the Hollywood Reporter.

“We thank our exhibition partners for their continued support as moviegoers across the U.S. discover the film in its theatrical run,” the spokesperson added.

Kevin Costner’s ‘HORIZON 2’ has had its August 16 theatrical release cancelled.

The studio are hoping of allowing more time to grow the audience for the first film before releasing the second.

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A second statement from Territory Pictures read, “The audience response to Horizon, and enthusiasm for seeing our story continue in Horizon 2, has been incredibly gratifying.”

“Kevin made this film for people who love movies and who wanted to go on a journey,” it added. “The support that we have received from film fans, and the theater owners, as they experience the first chapter of this saga only serves to reinforce our belief in them and the films that we have made, and we thank them for coming on board for the ride.”

“We welcome the opportunity for that window to be expanded as we know it will only serve to enhance the experience of seeing ‘Horizon 2,’” the statement concluded.

Costner’s first of four planned films in the “Horizon: An American Saga” dropped in June. So far, it has struggled at the box office, the Hollywood Reporter reported. The film opened the weekend of June 28-30 earning only $11 million at the domestic box office by the end of the weekend, THR noted. 

By the second weekend out, it had a domestic total of $22.2 million with a price tag of $100 million to make, the outlet noted. It also earned only another $3 million overseas.

To help make the movie more profitable, the film will not only be released in theaters but also debut in the home on Premium VOD as early as next week, THR noted. There is no timetable yet as far as when it will be released on the streaming platform Max.

The “Yellowstone” star previously downplayed the importance of box office success ahead of its release.

“If we put so much pressure on that, we’re bound to be disappointed,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”

Related: Kevin Costner Talks About His Latest Film, Says He Makes ‘Movies For Men’