(Bloomberg) -- Actor-director Kevin Costner and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. canceled the planned Aug. 16 release of Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2, the second installment of the $100 million western epic that bombed with audiences.
Territory Pictures and Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema decided not to release the film to give audiences more time “to discover the first installment” in coming weeks through online downloads and streaming.
The first installment opened June 27 and has collected just $23.4 million in worldwide ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo, a paltry sum for a film that was marketed widely. The actor has said he put $38 million of his money into the project.
In Horizon, Costner stars as pioneer Hayes Ellison alongside an ensemble cast that includes Sienna Miller and Danny Huston. He began developing the project in 1988 and held talks with Walt Disney Co., but the two sides couldn’t agree on a budget.
Horizon is among a number of summer and late 2024 films that struggling theater operators were counting on to reinvigorate box-office sales. Even with the recent success of Disney’s Inside Out 2, the top Pixar film of all time, and Universal Pictures’ Despicable Me 4, the No. 1 picture last week, domestic ticket sales remain 17% below a year ago, according to Comscore Inc.
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