‘Horizon’ Chapter 1 Hits Netflix: How to Watch Kevin Costner’s Western Epic

What have critics said?

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 received mixed reviews from critics — the film has a Metascore of 49 out of 100 on Metacritic and a Tomatometer rating of 51 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Costner and co-writer Jon Baird “carefully plant loose ends, in the form of side characters whose desires, ideas, or resentments are suggestive of dramas to come,” wrote The New Yorker’s Richard Brady. “But not one of these characters comes off as anything other than plot-generating machinery, a set of dramatic springs and gears.”

Rolling Stone’s David Fear says the problem with the film is that none of the storylines “are able to stand up on their own, much less as parts of some visionary cinematic mural.”

The Observer’s Wendy Ide seemed to enjoy Horizon more, saying, “This is the kind of handsome, well-nourished film-making that looks an absolute treat up on the screen, but is about as authentically Old West as a set of dental veneers. Still, it’s not uninvolving.”

When will Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 come out?

Costner envisioned Horizon as a four-film series, but Chapter 2’s theatrical release date seems to be a question of “if” and not “when,” since Chapter 1 was a box-office flop.

After the first film earned just $22 million in its first 10 days in U.S. theaters, against a budget of about $100 million, Costner’s Territory Pictures and distribution partner New Line Cinema decided to postpone the release of Chapter 2, according to THR.

Chapter 2 — which also had a price tag of around $100 million, per THR — was originally scheduled to open on August 16, 2024, two and a half months after the first installment hit theaters. As of the time of this writing, no updated release date has been announced.