Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga: Chapter 2 has been pulled from its August 16 release and is avoiding a tough face-off against Alien: Romulus in the process.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Costner’s production company Territory Pictures and Horizon’s distribution partner New Line Cinema—a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Pictures—pulled Horizon 2 from the August calendar on Wednesday.
The cancelation of Horizon 2’s release date comes in the wake of the poor performance of Horizon 1 after it opened in 3,334 theaters domestically on June 28. The film opened with a dismal $11 million in its first weekend and tumbled out of the top five at the North American box office last weekend with a $5.5 million take.
To date, per The Numbers, Horizon 1 has earned $23.48 million in North American theaters and $1.27 million in international ticket sales for a worldwide tally of $24.72 million. THR said Horizon 1 had a $100 million production budget before prints and advertising, while The Numbers pegged the production cost at $50 million.
Either way, it’s Costner and two unnamed investors who are on the hook for the film’s financing and not New Line/Warner Bros., which is only distributing the film. According to Variety, Costner spent $38 million of his own money to finance Horizon while the two investors financed the remainder of the project.
On top of that, Variety noted, Costner and his investors footed the $30 million bill for Horizon’s prints and advertising costs.
Had it stayed in its August 16 slot, Horizon 2 was facing a formidable competitor for box office dollars with 20th Century Studios’ Alien: Romulus, the latest release in producer Ridley Scott’s Alien movie franchise that began in 1979.
Alien: Romulus is being produced by Scott and directed by Evil Dead remake filmmaker Fede Álvarez. Civil War star Cailee Spaeny plays one of Alien: Romulus’ leads.
According to The Numbers, the eight-picture Alien movie franchise—which includes two Alien vs. Predator films—has earned more than $1.6 billion to date.
Why Was ‘Horizon 2’ Pulled From The Release Calendar?
According to THR, part of the reason New Line Cinema pulled Horizon 2 from the August release calendar was to give audiences a bigger window of opportunity to see Horizon: Chapter 1 before the second chapter is released.
Since Horizon 1 is already scheduled to debut on digital streaming via premium video on demand on July 16, it only would have allowed viewers a month to catch the film before Horizon 2 arrived in theaters.
“Territory Pictures and New Line Cinema have decided not to release Horizon: Chapter 2 on August 16 to give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment of Horizon over the coming weeks, including on PVOD and Max,” a New Line spokesperson said (via THR). “We thank our exhibition partners for their continued support as moviegoers across the U.S. discover the film in its theatrical run.”
PVOD will allow Costner and his investors to recoup some of their investment since the digital purchase price of the film is $24.99 and the 48-hour rental price is $19.99.
Max—which is Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service—has yet to announce a streaming video on demand date for Horizon: Chapter 1.
Also, per THR, Territory Pictures released a statement about the decision to pull Horizon 2 from theaters, saying, “The audience response to Horizon, and enthusiasm for seeing our story continue in Horizon 2, has been incredibly gratifying. Kevin made this film for people who love movies and who wanted to go on a journey.
“The support that we have received from film fans, and the theater owners, as they experience the first chapter of this saga only serves to reinforce our belief in them and the films that we have made, and we thank them for coming on board for the ride. We welcome the opportunity for that window to be expanded as we know it will only serve to enhance the experience of seeing Horizon 2.”
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