Yellowstone star Kevin Costner will return to the Western genre with his film series Horizon: An American Saga, the first part of which is set to arrive in theaters June 28. The first film in a planned four-arc installment premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival to an 11-minute 40-second standing ovation, which brought the actor to tears.
Costner, who stars in and directs the Western installments, has been wanting to bring this project to the screen since 1988 when he started dreaming it up. He cowrote it with Jon Baird. The Dances With Wolves star revealed that production has begun for the third film and that he has plans to make a fourth. The second part of the series will follow the first with a theatrical release this summer.
Read on for everything we know about Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga:
Watch on Deadline
What is Horizon: An American Saga about?
The Western films will chronicle the expansion of the American West before and after the Civil War. Perspectives of colonizers and Native Americans — especially in the fourth film — will intertwine to tell the complex history. Spanning 15 years following the end of one of America’s defining conflicts, it traces the tension of another — Manifest Destiny and Native Americans.
How many films make up Horizon: An American Saga?
The cast has largely been exposed to four scripts for four different feature-length chapters of the project. The first two films have received theatrical release dates via New Line and Warner Bros. The films following Chapter 1 are not considered sequels, but separate installments that tell the full story.
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How long is Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1?
The first film clocks in at three hours.
When did Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 come out? Is it streaming?
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 will start streaming on Max Friday, August 23.
The first film arrived in theaters on June 28. It will become available to watch on digital. on July 16.
Who is in Horizon: An American Saga?
Chapter 1 boasts an impressive cast including Luke Wilson, Tatanka Means, Sienna Miller, Jena Malone, Wase Winyan Chief, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jena Malone, Sam Worthington, Isabelle Fuhrman, Ella Hunt, Michael Rooker, Abbey Lee, Danny Huston, Will Patton and more.
Giovanni Ribisi, Glynn Turman, Tom Payne, Kathleen Quinlan, Angus MacFayden and countless others also pop in and out of the first film. There are more than 170 speaking roles.
Costner’s son Hayes also appears in the film, and his namesake is a character in the story — Hayes Ellison.
When does Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2 come out?
The second film was slated to hit theaters August 16, but after the performance of Chapter 1 at the box office, Chapter 2 was pulled from Warner Bros. slate for August.
Given the target audience of the film, WB wanted to give them time to go to the movies to see the first installment before releasing the second one.
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2 will premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
When will Horizon: An American Saga Chapters 3 and 4 come out?
Costner told Deadline that he has already shot three days of Part 3. He hopes to return to Cannes with the third chapter.
How much has this project cost?
Costner revealed to Deadline that he’s projected to pay $98 million himself for the first three films in the series. Financing the fourth will make it $100 million. At Cannes he spoke about sacrificing his four homes that he owns to make the Western movies.
“I’m trying to make the third one. I knocked on every boat in Cannes to help me,” he said. “The guys say, ‘C’mon, we’ll get a picture.’ I said. ‘No, get your checkbook out.’“