Kevin Costner reflects on the decision to release his Western epic Wyatt Earp just six months after Tombstone, expressing regret about the choice. Costner’s Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves established him as a major creative force within the venerable Western genre, leading to high expectations for his 1994 movie. However, when it was released just six months after Kurt Russell’s 1993 Earp movie, Costner’s movie stumbled at the box office, losing the Tombstone versus Wyatt Earp battle and becoming a major disappointment for the star.
During a recent interview with GQ conducted thirty years after Wyatt Earp flopped at the box office, Costner has expressed misgivings at the choice to release the movie so soon after Tombstone. The star said he regrets that the two films were seen as being in competition and that he ignored a friend’s advice to postpone the movie which started “this kind of space race.” Check out his full quote and the video interview below (the quote occurs around 31:24 of the clip):
I love Wyatt, or I just love that movie. We got into a level of competition with Tombstone. A good friend said, “Look, we can postpone this movie. We don’t wanna compete.” And I said, “Look,” I said, “I’m sure this writer, director wants to make this movie, let them.” And then this kind of space race started. And I always regretted that there was this kind of weird competition, and it was a fun movie, Tombstone, but it’s too bad it went the way it went.
Why Postponing Wyatt Earp Would Not Have Saved It
Wyatt Earp May Have Been Destined To Be A Flop.
Tombstone being tighter, less expensive, and more engaging only served to point out Wyatt Earp ‘s flaws, which would have existed regardless.
Tombstone came out in late 1993, grossing $72.3 million against a budget of $25 million. Released in the summer of 1994, Costner’s rival Wyatt Earp movie cost $63 million to make but only grossed $56 million. Those numbers could indicate that it was indeed a mistake for Costner and director Lawrence Kasdan to release their Earp film so soon after Tombstone, but in fact, postponing the movie for another year might not have saved it because Wyatt Earp was generally not well received by those who saw it.
Critics were harsh in their assessment of Wyatt Earp, as reflected in the film’s 32% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Their reviews reflect that the movie was simply too long and too overstuffed with the story. Waiting an extra year to release the movie without making significant cuts may have done little to fix its basic flaws or make it more attractive to audiences. It also would not have changed the reality of its costly production budget. Tombstone being tighter, less expensive, and more engaging only served to point out Wyatt Earp’s flaws, which would have existed regardless.
Warner Bros. and director Lawrence Kasdan also arguably over-estimated Costner’s box office clout at a time when his shine from the movie Dances with Wolves was already wearing off, a situation that would not have been helped by pushing the film back another year. Costner may indeed be correct that competing with Tombstone took away from Wyatt Earp’s box office, but in truth, the over-indulgent movie, made at a time when his own box office heat was dissipating, likely would have been a flop no matter what.
Kevin Costner Has Gone On To Redeem His Wyatt Earp Flop
The Star Has Returned To The Top Of The Western Genre.
While the box office prospects of Let Him Go were severely limited by the fact that it was theatrically released in November 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Costner’s Western track record, otherwise, has massively improved since the Wyatt Earp flop.
Although the poor performance of Wyatt Earp led Costner to take nearly a decade to return to the Western genre, he struck gold with his 2003 follow-up Open Range, which earned $68.3 million against a greatly reduced $22 million budget, in addition to being a hit with both audiences and critics. This was followed by a period of general critical and commercial success for his Westerns, especially once he joined the Yellowstone cast, leading Taylor Sheridan’s popular neo-Western family drama until departing the show shortly before its finale.
While the box office prospects of Let Him Go were severely limited by the fact that it was theatrically released in November 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Costner’s Western track record, otherwise, has massively improved since the Wyatt Earp flop. Of the five titles in question, only one Rotten Tomatoes score – the 59% rating for Netflix’s The Highwaymen – was Rotten, and that one only missed the Fresh threshold by 1%. Over the past two decades, Costner has firmly rehabilitated his Western image despite his regrets over the Wyatt Earp release.
However, it seems that the star is now preparing to recreate the Wyatt Earp and Tombstone battle in the mid-2020s. His upcoming Horizon: An American Saga is a four-part Western movie epic that will be competing with the final episodes of Yellowstone and its upcoming spinoffs. The project, which Costner co-wrote, directed, and stars in, cost a fabulously expensive $100 million for the first two chapters and seems to be returning to the overindulgence of Earp in both budget and runtime, which may not pay off considering the first movie’s 32% Rotten Tomatoes score coming out of its Cannes premiere.