Costner’s Expensive ‘Horizon’ Thrashes at Box Office

“Inside Out 2,” which stars someone with anxiety, continues to resonate with moviegoers as the No. 1 film in North America for the third week in a row. The horror thriller “A Quiet Place: Day One” also struck a cultural chord, with stronger-than-expected ticket sales.

But ticket buyers largely rejected Kevin Costner’s three-hour, slick project, “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1,” the supposed precursor to the Old West series that was once scheduled to be released. Directly to the streaming service Before you can hit the big screen.

Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” has taken in $57.4 million, bringing its three-week total to about $470 million in the United States and Canada, according to box office analyst estimates Sunday. The well-reviewed sequel is closing in on $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales. No film has reached that sales threshold since “Barbie,” which came out in July 2023.

for the weekend,”A Quiet Place: Day OneIt was expected to generate about $53 million in domestic ticket sales — more than 30 percent above analysts’ pre-release expectations, which are based on polls that track moviegoer interest. A Quiet Place: Day One, which cost Paramount an estimated $67 million to produce, stars Lupita Nyong’o as a cancer patient who, along with her cat Frodo, must endure a horrific invasion by aliens with extremely sensitive ears.

Prequels are risky. Notable missteps include “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The First Omen” and “Lightyear.” Fans already know what’s coming next in the story, making it difficult for studio marketers to drum up excitement, and prequels often lack the stars who helped make the franchises popular in the first place. Emily Blunt, for example, headlined the first two “Quiet Place” films.

“Day One”‘s strong performance is even more impressive considering that its studio, Paramount, has recently been caught up in a disturbing sell-out drama. Shari Redstone, the company’s controlling shareholder, ousted a top executive, negotiated a takeover bid, and finally called the whole thing off, sending the stock price plummeting. Despite this turmoil, Paramount’s film team brilliantly succeeded in getting “Day One” onto the market.

Costner’s much-hyped “Horizon,” which cost about $100 million to produce and another $30 million to market, came in third. The film was expected to gross $11 million, analysts said. (Ticket sales are split 50-50 between theaters and studios.) Costner had hoped that fans of his hit contemporary Western “Yellowstone,” especially those living in the heartland, would flock to theaters. That turned out to be a pipe dream.

Can Horizon regain its footing in the coming weeks? Citing box office experts, they were not optimistic Poor reviewsAdditionally, ticket buyers gave “Horizon” a B- in CinemaScore polls, which means word of mouth will be weak.

Warner Bros. will release Chapter Two on August 16. Mr. Costner has already begun production on the third part and has also announced the fourth installment.

Warner Bros. is operating as a rental-only distributor, meaning the studio has no investment in the films and thus no financial exposure. (The company will take a cut of ticket sales — about 8 percent — as a fee for its services.) To finance the project, Mr. Costner mortgaged properties in Santa Barbara, Calif., and secured backing from private investors. He left “Yellowstone” to focus on “Horizon.”

“There are movies that beat the odds, break the mold, and prove the skeptics wrong,” said David Gross, a film consultant who is publishing a book. the news On box office numbers. “In this case, the template is still intact: Westerns are not in fashion, and there has not been a successful Western sitcom in the last fifty years.”