What Went Wrong With Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Replacement & What Happens Now
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 was meant to be Kevin Costner’s replacement for the neo-Western series Yellowstone, but it has not quite panned out.
The two-time Oscar-winning director and actor has long been associated with the Western genre, having appeared in projects including Wyatt Earp, Dances with Wolves, and Open Range, directing the latter two titles in addition to appearing in them.
When he took on the role of John Dutton in the Taylor Sheridan show, he made his triumphant return to the genre.
The Kevin Costner Western proved to be quite popular, gathering an ever-growing audience that allowed the season 5 premiere to break the record for the most-watched series premiere of 2022 (as of that November) with 12.1 million viewers tuning in.
The show has also spawned a variety of spinoffs, including the prequels 1883 and 1923, an upcoming sequel show, and more.
However, Costner departed the series after appearing in season 5 part 1, and it was also announced that the upcoming part 2 will be the flagship show’s final episodes.
Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Exit & How Horizon Was Supposed To Replace It
Costner Departed The Neo-Western Series Amid Backstage Drama
Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone exit came amid a flurry of rumors about a rift between the star and creator Taylor Sheridan.
While the exact nature of those claims remains unclear, Costner himself told The Hollywood Reporter that the reason he left was that “After this long year and a half of working on Horizon… I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue season 5B or into the future.”
Thus, his new movie saga became positioned as more or less a direct replacement for the series, whether that was intentional or not.
Why Horizon Chapter 1 Didn’t Perform Well At The Box Office
Many Factors Could Prevent The Movie From Breaking Even Theatrically
There are quite a few likely reasons that the movie’s box office has so far fallen short of that $100 million marker.
The first is the negative reviews, as the Cannes premiere took place a full month before its theatrical release, giving prospective viewers plenty of time to feel nervous about the prospect of committing three hours – and potentially an additional nine hours down the road, given the fact that this is only chapter one – to watching the project.
Yellowstone audiences used to watching Costner’s Western material at home may also be waiting to view the movie on VOD.
Has Kevin Costner Earned His Money Back For Horizon?
Costner Partially Self-Financed The New Western
In addition to the movie’s financial prospects determining its worth as a replacement for Yellowstone, Costner has a large personal stake in the movie, having self-financed a large portion of its hefty budget.
This is in keeping with a long-term pattern of behavior for the star, who has partially self-financed more than a dozen of his own projects, many of which have then flopped in theaters.
It is unclear if Kevin Costner’s Horizon gamble paid off, because while it has been confirmed that he spent at least $38 million of his own money on the production, the exact degree to which he is supporting the movie’s release is unknown.
A recent Business Insider report suggests that, if Costner also had a hand in the marketing costs, the movie would have to gross $65 million at the domestic box office in order for Costner to recoup his investment. At the time of writing, this does not seem like a possibility.
