Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024) (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

And Part 2 is definitely being released to theaters. 100%.

Oh well. So much for my predictive powers.

Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon 2’ Pulled From August Release in Theaters​

Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon 2’ Pulled From August Release in Theaters After First Film Flops (Exclusive)

Costner's Territory Pictures and New Line Cinema made the decision in order to give audiences more time to discover the initial movie before the sequel.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Damn.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Sounds like they are still required to release it theatrically, but they want to try to build the audience for it by having P1 around longer for home viewing before releasing P2. I'd bet we get it as a limited release roll out in December/January.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I would much rather applaud the intentions and ambitions behind this project than to take glee in it not being the runaway financial success that was probably never in the cards to begin with. Frankly, I think some of the glee being taken in its underperformance is unseemly.

A lot of the same voices within the industry, within entertainment industry journalism, etc., that consistently bemoan the state of Hollywood, who ask for more original ideas, more auteur driven projects, who ask for original films financed at the levels of franchise pictures, who want investors to not simply invest in the same type of picture over and over, are also the loudest voices in apparently enjoying this film’s misfortune. Can’t have it both ways, fellas.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Just saw this yesterday... and yeah, agree w/ most comments (I've actually read... as I skipped at least a 1/2 dozen pages I think after the earliest opinions after initial release). Enjoyed it enough for my one viewing in theater. Not sure yet if I'll actually buy the disc or just digital (partly out of respect for Costner). Hope he makes at least a fair amount of his $$$ back...

_Man_

 

[Dave B Ferris]

I would much rather applaud the intentions and ambitions behind this project than to take glee in it not being the runaway financial success that was probably never in the cards to begin with. Frankly, I think some of the glee being taken in its underperformance is unseemly.

A lot of the same voices within the industry, within entertainment industry journalism, etc., that consistently bemoan the state of Hollywood, who ask for more original ideas, more auteur driven projects, who ask for original films financed at the levels of franchise pictures, who want investors to not simply invest in the same type of picture over and over, are also the loudest voices in apparently enjoying this film’s misfortune. Can’t have it both ways, fellas.

Now the knives are being sharpened for Metropolis. Or they already are, from Cannes.

 

[Robert Saccone]

As I mentioned before I really enjoyed it and was looking forward to the 2nd part in August. I hope this does give it time to find an audience. I also think this would have worked and done well as a series on a streaming platform. I think it would have fit in on Apple's TV+.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think this project could work in both formats. That happened with one of Quentin Tarantino‘s films, I forget which, where there’s a movie version and a miniseries version.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

But the thing for me about seeing it in a theater was that I found myself transported by the film in a way I don’t think I would have been in smaller chunks on TV at home. I think the story will work fine on both platforms but I’m not sure the audiences will “feel” the movie the same way at home. In my opinion there were valid artistic reasons for presenting this as films rather than TV episodes.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

^But isn't it basically already a miniseries... of 4 albeit long films, hehheh? Part 1 (at least) even ends w/ an attached montage that apparently previews what are coming, which seems sometimes (if rarely enough) done for the 1st/pilot episode of a (mini)series...

_Man_

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I suppose it is but I think the movie is made in a way to support an extended runtime with audience immersion. It’s not really paced in such a way to be split apart hour by hour - it depends on you getting caught up in the momentum of it and keeping track of who characters are, where they are and what they hope to achieve, and doesn’t do a lot of the more “TV” things like repeated exposition and frequent chyrons to help you keep your place.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I suppose it is but I think the movie is made in a way to support an extended runtime with audience immersion. It’s not really paced in such a way to be split apart hour by hour - it depends on you getting caught up in the momentum of it and keeping track of who characters are, where they are and what they hope to achieve, and doesn’t do a lot of the more “TV” things like repeated exposition and frequent chyrons to help you keep your place.

Maybe the best, realistic hope for this is to become something similar enough to North & South, where each episode is basically also the length of a feature-length movie, but released theatrically first...

It certainly has enough similarities going for it me thinks.

_Man_

 

[Museum Pieces]

I guess it's being around my brother-in-law, who's in the business, that made it pretty obvious to me that part two was never coming to the theater. I knew after seeing the trailer to part one a long time ago that the movie was going to flop. It was poorly put together. I don't take pleasure or glee in saying it. It leaves me scratching my head that more craft wasn't applied to such an undertaking. The general consensus among those in the industry seems to be parts 1 and 2 were rushed, sloppily put together, and lack much craft in terms of building interest and suspense necessary to attract a large audience. The preview of coming attractions at the end of part one is highly representative of how rushed and sloppy the work is. From what I have heard part two is more of the same.

I think the most important thing is for Costner to assure the audience that parts 3 and 4 will be finished by hook or by crook. Get it all finished and then the saga can stand on its own with a chance to find its audience and become something. If it remains unfinished, I think that chance diminishes greatly. I'm less inclined to pay for part 2 and 3 knowing 4 isn't coming (if, in fact, it's not).

 

[AlexF]

I saw this Monday.

I enjoyed it. I'm quite rather looking forward to part 2. I felt that (for the most part), the work done to ensure historical accuracy was one of the things that made the film as strong as it is.

Unlike a couple of certain commenters above, I did not think or feel that this was a TV show being shown on a big screen. It definitely did NOT feel like that.

Yes, the cuts were a bit faster, yes it jumped between storylines a bit more than your typical film... but does that make it not a film? No.

In a sense, a lot of the negative commentary and glee about this film's failure is similar to the commentary about Civil War before it came out. It just doesn't seem to have any actual interest in the film itself or its content.

 

[Museum Pieces]

This is new. I hadn't heard this from Costner before. I saw it on the AP. If true, it explains a lot in the way this was shoddily put together. And maybe gives hope that all of it will be finished.

“They’re going to break this up into a hundred pieces, you know what I mean?” said Costner. “After four of these, they’re going to have 13, 14 hours of film and they’re going to turn into 25 hours of TV, and they’re going to do whatever they’re going to do. That’s just the way we live in our life but they’ll also exist in this form. And that was important for me, to make sure that happened. And I was the one who paid for it.”

He paid for it all right. It more ways than one.

 

[ScottRE]

A disappointing delay but more hopeful than I originally thought. I hope the first chapter gains traction on streaming or in whatever time it has in theaters and the rest of the story finds an audience.

For all of the people who complain there aren't original films, that there are only sequels, remakes and super-hero flicks, well...here ya go! It's also not particularly short or concluded in one film. It doesn't have a world conquering villain, a multi-verse, or jokes every 20 seconds. It requires some measure of attention be paid. It's also not Barbie. It's a handsome piece of Americana and American Cinema is on life support. So enjoy it while you can.

I'm fine with delays if they still get made and shown. I'll be fine with one a year. Limited theatrical runs for those of us who want to experience it in cinemas and streaming for the folks who prefer to stay home.

 

[Jake Lipson]

From the article @Tino posted in post #261:

Warner Bros., New Line’s parent company, began notifying theater owners of the dramatic eleventh-hour change Wednesday morning. Many cinemas had offered consumers the chance to buy advance tickets for Chapter 2; they will now have to be refunded.

Has any movie been ever been delayed after tickets had already been put on sale? This can't be normal. If I remember correctly, I think No Time to Die might have had tickets on sale already when it was delayed. But that was a giant exception because of Covid. Aside from that, I can't think of any other situation where this has happened.

 

[Tino]

I think this project could work in both formats. That happened with one of Quentin Tarantino‘s films, I forget which, where there’s a movie version and a miniseries version.

The Hateful Eight

 

[Museum Pieces]

The Hateful Eight

The difference is that IMO The Hateful Eight was 1) a well made movie; and 2) a finished movie. Horizon isn't really finished, but now at least it makes more sense as to why they would finish it.

From what I understand there are hours of footage that didn't make the first or second movies, so those will be added to make a lot of episodes. More a season of TV episodes than a miniseries. Apparently this was the deal from the beginning. That was one of the ways Costner got the rest of the money he needed, to sign all that away. Explains why it's so segmented. Too bad the back end TV plans crept into the feature production in such a disabling way, but it will make it easier to break into episodes, which apparently was the point from the beginning.

 

[Tino]

a well made movie;

So is Horizon…imo. I love TH8 by the way.