Many months after its planned theatrical release, the already completed Horizon: Chapter 2 is still sitting on the shelf.

One of the biggest gambles of 2024 was, without a doubt, Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga. This is Costner’s passion project, with him having worked on the script since 1988. He even named his youngest son Hayes after the character he was gearing up to play in the films. But, westerns have never been the easiest movies to get financed. While Costner’s Dances With Wolves made hundreds of millions and won Costner a couple of Oscars, his follow-up western, Wyatt Earp, was an expensive misfire. However, Open Range made money, given that it was a relatively thrifty production. While 1997’s The Postman deeply impacted Costner’s career for many years, the mammoth success of Yellowstone put him back on top. Still eager to get the saga made, which would eventually grow to five chapters, he bet on himself and largely financed the first two Horizon movies himself. 

Indeed, it was a big bet, but when Horizon: Chapter One opened this summer, it was a box office flop, earning only $29 million against a budget that – before marketing – was at least $50 million. The film fared even worse overseas, grossing $5 million. So, what happened? No one can blame Costner for not doing his best to market the film, with him sitting for many interviews (including one with us here at JoBlo). Still, a lot of the headlines from these interviews were related to his unceremonious exit from Yellowstone, which saw his beloved John Dutton get killed off-screen.

Whatever the case, Horizon was a big enough flop that the sequel, which was initially set for an August 2024 release, never came out. The rumour has always been that WB, which was only the distributor of the films, wasn’t footing the market budget for the sequel and that Costner opted to pull the movie in the hopes that Horizon would eventually find its audience on streaming and eventually lead to a theatrical release. 

Whatever the case, Horizon: Chapter 2 is complete, with it having been shown at the Venice Film Festival, where it earned positive reviews. Part of Chapter 3 has been shot, although no one is quite sure how much, with it being impacted by the WGA/SAG strikes. It’s supposed to resume shooting this spring, although that seems not to be something to bank on until it’s known what will happen to the second chapter.

So, when will we see Chapter 2? That’s hard to say, as Costner has always maintained that he wants these movies released theatrically. Given how big Yellowstone has been, and how well Horizon has been doing on Max, It seems likely that – if he wanted – he could pivot the movies to a streaming release. He might even be able to convince a streaming service to finance a third film, or perhaps even recut the whole thing into a series. Given that he shot the movies flat in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, he had to be thinking a large chunk of the audience would see the movies at home, but so far, there hasn’t been any news on whether we’ll ever see the sequel. Note that the first film ends with a trailer for Horizon: Chapter 2. Perhaps Costner will compromise, releasing the film to streaming, while giving it a limited theatrical run through a company like Fathom, who previously partnered with WB on Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.

Whatever the case, it seems unlikely Horizon: Chapter 2 will get the same kind of wide release the first film did. Yet, as a fan of Costner and someone who liked the first film, I do hope it sees the light of day and that Costner can somehow get the money to wrap up the saga on his own terms without compromising his vision too much.

What do you think will happen to Horizon: Chapter 2? Let us know in the comments!