Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is a 2024 American epic Western film directed and produced by Kevin Costner from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jon Baird, based on an original story by the pair and Mark Kasdan. The first installment in the titular film series, it features an ensemble cast of Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, and Giovanni Ribisi, with Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, and Jamie Campbell Bower in supporting roles. The film follows several characters navigating life in the Midwestern territories amid the American Civil War.
Costner conceived the idea for an epic Western film in 1988, but it languished in development hell for five decades. The film was finally confirmed in January 2022 with Costner as director, with an original plan to shoot the first two films of an envisioned four-film saga back-to-back and release them digitally on HBO Max. Much of the cast signed on in August, with filming beginning that month in Utah and lasting through November. The first two films carry a reported combined budget of $100 million, of which $38 million Costner personally funded.
Chapter 1 premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 28, 2024. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $38.7 million worldwide. The film was filmed back-to-back with a sequel, Chapter 2, which had its world premiere at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, and is scheduled to be released at an unspecified date in 2025; Chapter 3 started filming in May 2024, while Chapter 4 is in development.
In 1859, at the San Pedro Valley of Southeastern Territorial Arizona, two separate parties of surveyors mark stakes on opposite sides of the San Pedro River to outline the homestead lots of a forthcoming frontier town, Horizon. Soon after, Desmarais, a missionary, using a "Horizon"-titled single page printed pamphlet poster, seeks out Horizon and discovers all three members of the surveying parties dead at the hands of a Western Apache war band. He buries their bodies and establishes the town of Horizon.
In 1863, American homesteader Horizon faces an Apache raid led by Pionsenay, killing several residents, including Frances Kittredge's husband and son. Russell Ganz, a settlement boy, escapes on horseback to alert the Army at nearby Camp Grant, Arizona. United States Cavalry and Infantry, led by 1st Lt. Gephardt and Sgt. Major Riordan with Chief Scout Neron Chavez, assists with burials, tracks the raiders, and helps survivors. Frances and her daughter Elizabeth seek sanctuary at Camp Gallant. Orphaned Russell joins a posse led by survivor Elias Janney and a scalp-hunter to pursue the Apaches. Gephardt warns the posse against retaliating indiscriminately against uninvolved Natives, motivated by scalping profitability. Frances and Elizabeth adapt to Camp Gallant life. Gephardt's moral stance on indigenous land conflicts with Colonel Houghton's manifest destiny views. Elizabeth befriends troops at the Post, heartbroken when they are recalled to fight in the Civil War. Meanwhile, Frances and Gephardt start a romance.
Pionsenay argues with his tribal elder, Tuayeseh, over his raids on the settlers. Pionsenay believes the settlers will push them out and lead them to war against other tribes, while Tuayeseh believes in co-existence and considers reprisal for Pionsenay's actions. Pionsenay and his warband, including one of Tuayeseh's sons, voluntarily leave the tribe to continue their war against the settlers.
In Montana Territory, Lucy shoots James Sykes and flees to Wyoming Territory with her son Sam. Wounded, Mrs. Sykes orders her sons to recapture them. Now under the name Ellen Harvey, Lucy marries businessman Walter Childs. They live with Marigold, a prostitute. Marigold propositions horse trader Hayes Ellison, then returns to care for Sam while Lucy and Walter go to a land sale. Lucy is horrified to discover the buyers are the pursuing Sykes brothers. Walter is killed by Caleb, and the men kidnap Lucy. Junior sends Caleb to find Sam, who encounters Hayes. In a shootout, Hayes kills Caleb, then flees with Marigold and Sam. They settle in a railroad camp, but Marigold abandons Sam for a gambler, leaving him with a Chinese worker's family.
A wagon train led by Matthew Van Weyden travels through the Santa Fe Trail to Horizon. Among them are the pretentious British couple Juliette Chesney and Hugh Proctor, along with the extended family of Frances's late husband. They are watched by Pawnee warriors, slowing their progress as they prepare to defend themselves. At night, Juliette catches two men peeping at her while she bathes in the drinking water. Van Weyden must warn them away, but neither seems inclined to listen.
Janney discovers Pionsenay as the responsible Apache at a trading post. While Janney and the Trader prevent a confrontation, the group decides to target any Indians for information. They find a Tonto Apache village, wait for the hunters to leave, then attack and kill the tribe's women, children, and elderly. The posse leaves before facing repercussions, with the impact of their actions spreading.
Kevin Costner first commissioned Horizon as a single, small-scale film in 1988 and later approached Walt Disney Studios with the project after the release of his 2003 film Open Range. The film almost entered production, but he and Disney were $5 million apart on the budget and plans were scrapped. He returned to the script in 2012, rewriting it with Jon Baird as four larger films. It was announced in January 2022 that Costner was set to direct and produce the film, a passion project for him, in addition to starring. It began casting in February. In April, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema joined the production to distribute with the film set to be released on the then-named HBO Max streaming service before being moved to a theatrical release. In a June interview, Costner stated he plans to make four movies out of the premise and was looking to cast over 170 speaking roles. In order to get the films made, Costner spent $38 million of his own money.
In August, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jamie Campbell Bower, Luke Wilson, Thomas Haden Church, Jena Malone, Alejandro Edda, Tatanka Means, and Michael Rooker were cast in the film. Isabelle Fuhrman, Ella Hunt, Jeff Fahey, and Tom Payne would be among the numerous casting announcements made throughout September. In October, Will Patton, Owen Crow Shoe, and Danny Huston were added to the cast.
Filming of at least the first installment began on August 29, 2022 in southern Utah, concluding in November. Filming of the second installment began by May 2023, before concluding in the summer of that year.
In a May 2023 interview, Costner expressed hope to have the first film released by fall 2023. In October, it was announced the film would release in two parts, with Chapter 1 releasing on June 28, 2024, and Chapter 2 on August 16, 2024. Later that month, it was announced that K5 International, the recently relaunched international sales arm of K5 Media Group, would handle international sales on the film at the American Film Market. In April 2024, it was announced that the first part would premiere out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2024, where it received a nine-minute standing ovation at the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 debuted on digital platforms via premium video on demand on July 16, 2024. On August 16, 2024, it was announced that Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 would begin streaming on Max on August 23, 2024. The film played at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, prior to the world premiere of Chapter 2 on September 7, 2024.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 grossed $29 million in the United States and Canada, and $9.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $38.7 million.
In the United States and Canada, Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 was released alongside A Quiet Place: Day One, and was projected to gross $10–15 million from 3,334 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $4.1 million on its first day, including $800,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $11 million, finishing in third behind Inside Out 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One. In its second weekend the film made $5.4 million (a drop of 51%), finishing in sixth. Losing nearly 750 theaters in its third weekend the film made $2.4 million, finishing in seventh.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 51% of 156 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Kevin Costner doesn't lack for ambition as he sketches this frontier saga across the widest of canvases, but Horizon's first chapter proves too diffuse in scope for it to satisfy as a self-contained endeavor." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.
Bilge Ebiri of Vulture gave a reservedly positive review, likening its incomplete nature to the 2021 film Dune: Part One and stating that "Its stately pace never feels boring, so it doesn't feel like it should have been shorter. But it also doesn't really work on its own.... And it feels impossible to judge this film, because, in some weird way, it doesn't feel like anything has really happened yet."
A review at RogerEbert.com wrote, "Even with the cataclysmic scenes of death, the first hour does little to endear these characters. They're disparate people whose connections aren't immediately clear and only become vaguely obvious toward the picture's conclusion.", and further noted, "While the first film in the possible Horizon series does well in setting up future pictures, continuing the momentum Costner gained before he left Yellowstone, this single film is a chore to sit through. It rarely gives viewers what they want: seeing Costner on the open range. It gives us few memorable characters outside of Costner: I can't remember the name of a single figure without looking at my notes." Forbes was more positive and found the film had a "great sense of place" while The Guardian found the film was "an unapologetically old-school western". The BBC website was very critical and described the film as a non-film: "It's like the tantalising pilot episode of a television series – but a pilot episode that drags on and on for three hours."
A mixed review in Esquire, however, expressed hope about the sequels. Addressing the duration and the serialization of the film, Owen Gleiberman of Variety adopted the opposite approach: "Yet I think the idea is that the design of it all will come into focus as we see Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2 (later this summer), and then, at some point, Chapter 3 (which is now scheduled) and maybe, if all goes according to plan, more chapters. I seriously hope not. I'm not sure how much juice there is to squeeze out of these characters, but even if there is some I don't want to see movies turn into television. Just about every Western of the studio era came in at two hours or less, and so did most of the revisionist Westerns (and some of those were complicated). There's a reason for that. It's all the time they needed." Richard Brody of The New Yorker gave the film a negative review, writing that "the inflated production of Horizon shows in its aesthetic. The dramatic format seems borrowed from television, with multiple threads jumpily interweaved, to ward off impatience. With so many balls in the air at once, the movie lacks the kind of patient observation that this story demands.
The movie was nominated in the category of Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature at the 23rd Visual Effects Society Awards.
In June 2022, Costner stated he plans to make four Horizon films in total, shot back-to-back. In November 2022, Costner confirmed that the first film had been completed and that the second had been greenlit, set to be filmed in spring 2023. Production for the second film commenced in April 2023, with Glynn Turman, Kathleen Quinlan, and Giovanni Ribisi joining Costner, Miller, Worthington, Hunt, Patton, Wilson, Fuhrman, and Haden Church, who continued on from the first film. Director of photography J. Michael Muro, production designer Derek R. Hill, editor Miklos Wright, and costume designer Lisa Lovaas would also return. The second film finished production in summer 2023, with the production of the third film being paused because of the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
In May 2024, casting calls for background actors had commenced, while production was slated to begin later that month in St. George, Utah. Later, it was reported that production initially commenced in 2023, before progress halted in part due to the Hollywood strikes. One month following the completion of the previous installment, Costner began filming a montage sequence that features scenes from Chapter 3. Costner stated that principal photography commenced on May 13, 2024, explaining that production had initially been planned to commence on April 25 before being moved to May 6 in order to accommodate funding.
In June 2024, Costner stated that Giovanni Ribisi's character, H. Silas Pickering, appeared in the ending montage of the first film as a way to tease what's next in the saga, while saying that H. Silas Pickering will be a supporting character in the next film, but will become a main character in the third and fourth films, potentially as the villain of the saga.