Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga could lead to the same kind of Western revival he accidentally kickstarted in 1990. Westerns were once one of the most popular genres in Hollywood, but audiences became thoroughly jaded with them by the time the ’60s came around. That’s not to say they died off completely, but outside the work of Clint Eastwood or John Wayne, they became less of a safe bet.
Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns like Once Upon a Time in the West gave them a much-needed boost, but they were all but extinct by the 1980s. Westerns will never recapture their former popularity, but occasionally there will be a major success story, like The Hateful Eight or the True Grit remake. Kevin Costner’s upcoming Horizon movies are hoping to give the genre a shot in the arm too.
Kevin Costner has put his own money into Horizon, a planned four-part movie saga. The first two entries will hit theaters in summer 2024, and they go against conventional blockbuster wisdom. They’re R-rated, big-budget Westerns with estimated three-hour runtimes, so studios will no doubt be tracking how they perform very carefully.
Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves Led To A Short-Lived Western Comeback During The ’90s
Horizon could kick off its own Western revival
Horizon is seen as a major financial risk, but if they perform well, Costner stands to make a lot of money. Costner’s hopes of making Horizon’s Chapters 3 and 4 are also riding on the first two installments turning a profit. The star’s gamble recalls his directorial debut Dances with Wolves, another project he invested his own money in. That movie was labeled a vanity project prior to release, with the press even labeling it Kevin’s Gate, riffing on the notorious 1980 Western bomb Heaven’s Gate.
Instead, Dances with Wolves grossed $424 million worldwide (via The Numbers) and swept the Oscars, with Costner nabbing a Best Director trophy. More than that, Dances with Wolves’ success signaled to studios that, after a long drought, audiences wanted to see Westerns on the big screen again. Within the next five years, movies like Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, Tombstone, Legends of the Fall and Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead hit theaters.
For a time, it seemed the revival might stick, but moving into the late ’90s, VFX-heavy blockbusters such as Independence Day and Armageddon became the focus for most studios. Even Costner’s post-apocalyptic Western The Postman bombed hard when it arrived in 1997, which seemed to signal the fad was over.
Why Major Studios Avoided Making Westerns During The ’80s
Two words: Heaven’s. Gate.
The 1980s was the worst decade for Westerns by a considerable margin, with few being produced. The genre had noticeably declined during the ’70s, with Eastwood taking a long break following The Outlaw Josey Wales, while many of John Wayne’s later movies underperformed. Younger audiences began to gravitate towards contemporary stories, while the success of Jaws and Star Wars would have a gigantic impact on the business moving forward. The movie that truly slayed Westerns for about a decade was Heaven’s Gate, which cost an eye-watering $44 million to produce but only grossed $3.5 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
Heaven’s Gate ranks as one of the biggest bombs in Hollywood history and brought the auteur era – where directors were largely given free creative reign by studios – to a swift end. So profound was Heaven’s Gate’s failure that major studios refused to touch Westerns for years afterward. Outside of Eastwood’s Western comeback Pale Rider or 1988’s Young Guns, the decade has few “Oaters” of note. Some movies snuck Western themes into the story – like sci-fi thriller Outland or Near Dark – but had to hide them in contemporary settings.
Costner’s Horizon Gamble Could Lead To Another Big Screen Western Comeback
There’s hope for the genre on the Horizon
Decades on from Dances with Wolves, major studios are rarely willing to take a chance on Westerns. They still get made of course, but unless a filmmaker like Tarantino is behind them, it’s tough for the genre to break through. Costner is no stranger to the genre, with his TV series Yellowstone being a modern-day Western itself. He’s betting big that fans of his show will follow him into the theaters when Horizon Chapters 1 and 2 are released.
Genuine excitement and interest is building around Horizon , and if they prove to be surprise hits, studios just might start greenlighting more Westerns. With comic books movies and expensive blockbusters starting to lose luster with audiences, maybe a grown-up, handsomely mounted Western with a great cast is just the antidote.
The star himself is seemingly at peace with the idea both films could fail, but the hype surrounding them suggests otherwise. At the very least, it would be nice for the third and fourth Horizon movies to get made off the back of the first two.