Kevin Costner admitted his Horizon film didn’t have ‘overwhelming success.’
The Yellowstone actor, 69, plunged a huge chunk of his personal fortune into making the first of a series of epic westerns, which he has already followed up with Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2.
He said at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where the sequel got its world premiere after its original 16 August release date was scrapped, that it was delayed after the performance of Chapter 1, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and was released in cinemas in late-June.
He said about the first installment – which got mixed reviews and only earned $11 million at the box office in its opening weekend on a $100 million budget: ‘It didn’t have overwhelming success.’
But the Dances with Wolves star optimistically added: ‘I’ve had a lot of movies that way, that have stood the test of time.’
Kevin added the studio behind Horizon initially planned to release the sequel six weeks after the first film’s release – before they backtracked and decided not to put it out in mid-August.
But he added: ‘For me, it fell back into my plan, which was I always wanted to come out with movies about five-six months apart.
‘And that was going to allow me to come to Venice. I would have never come to Venice, because they won’t show the film here if it was already out.’
Kevin added Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera was ‘the biggest reason’ they were able to show the project at the Venice Film Festival, and praised him for ‘bringing this here.’
He went on: ‘(He) gave me my dream and didn’t allow it to be squashed. F***, Venice keeps coming to my rescue.’
Kevin previously said on Instagram about being welcomed to Venice: ‘I’m indebted to 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.’
Horizon chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.
The films have an ensemble cast, and also star director Kevin, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Giovanni Ribisi, Ella Hunt, Danny Huston and Luke Wilson also sharing the screen.
Chapter 3 of the film saga started shooting in May 2024. Chapter 4 is in development.
Costner financed the film himself, admitting to putting $38 million of his own funds into the project after spending decades trying to find a studio to make the film.
He even took out a loan against his Santa Barbara home after trying unsuccessfully to make it for more than 30 years.