Horizon Part 1 | Kevin Costner-directed Western | June 28, 2024

[AJG]

3 hours ago, MrHardapple said:

Don't underestimate the number of the Yellowstone fans that will watch this epic in the cinemas for sure.

This will bring many people to buy a ticket that otherwise don't go to the movies much / anymore.

A dad movie with huge potential.

That’s what I’m thinking. But at the same time a lot of reviews are calling this super long and really boring - which is probably the worst combination of things a movie could be called.

[el sid]

Don't underestimate the huge number of people who nowadays think, critics hate it, it must be good :). 

 

I don't say Horizon is a masterpiece, I have no crystal ball, no idea. But the audience decides. The audience also decided that IF is so far a hit (as GxK) and that The Fall Guy is ok but not the savior of the summer as critics rated it (a split decision). 

 

And a (political) controversy can also be helpful box office-wise. Remember Sound of Freedom. I didn't know that this movie exists almost till its release day.

 

However I'm really looking forward to track Horizon. Will be very exciting. Does anybody already know when tickets go on sale?

 

Edited May 22 by el sid

[justnumbers]

This is doomed.

[emoviefan]

Just not sure the Core Yellowstone audience of Conservative Old White Men is going to get off their butt's to see a 3 hour movie with these reviews just to thumb their nose at those snooty liberal elitist critics. If it was maybe 1 hour shorter. And that is the only audience  that may even be interested at this point. Yeah this movie may be in trouble.

[JohnnyGossamer]

13 hours ago, el sid said:

Don't underestimate the huge number of people who nowadays think, critics hate it, it must be good :). 

 

I don't say Horizon is a masterpiece, I have no crystal ball, no idea. But the audience decides. The audience also decided that IF is so far a hit (as GxK) and that The Fall Guy is ok but not the savior of the summer as critics rated it (a split decision). 

 

And a (political) controversy can also be helpful box office-wise. Remember Sound of Freedom. I didn't know that this movie exists almost till its release day.

 

However I'm really looking forward to track Horizon. Will be very exciting. Does anybody already know when tickets go on sale?

 

They're the same people that will say... "This looks like one of dozen Costner Western streaming series. I'll wait for streaming."

[Maggie]

3 minutes ago, emoviefan said:

Just not sure the Core Yellowstone audience of Conservative Old White Men is going to get off their butt's to see a 3 hour movie with these reviews just to thumb their nose at those snooty liberal elitist critics. If it was maybe 1 hour shorter. And that is the only audience  that may even be interested at this point. Yeah this movie may be in trouble.

Agreed. What's a hit on tv doesn't always mean that that audience is gonna get off the couch and pay for a movie ticket in theaters. That's why i laughed at Zack Sneider when he said Rebel Moon on Netflix was more watched than Barbie in theaters. Rebel Moon would have bombed in theaters

[MysteryMovieMogul]

Also, the film is open about it being a 'Part 1' and even more open that 'Part 2' comes out a couple months later.

 

So you're asking people to be interested so much in this film that they see both parts, only months apart, when most folks only go to a couple films per year already.

[Mojoguy]

5 hours ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

Also, the film is open about it being a 'Part 1' and even more open that 'Part 2' comes out a couple months later.

 

So you're asking people to be interested so much in this film that they see both parts, only months apart, when most folks only go to a couple films per year already.

There should at least a year between the 2 movies so people that didn't see part 1 in theaters can discover it on streaming before going to see part 2.

[PlatnumRoyce]

5 hours ago, emoviefan said:

Conservative Old White Men is going to get off their butt's to see a 3 hour movie with these reviews just to thumb their nose at those snooty liberal elitist critics

I'm seen this this sort of argument a lot and it just feels too reductive. If this film is a hit it's going to be because it's a good looking film that taps into an appealing metanarrative about "where we come from." I don't really see why there's a push to read Costner as Sean Hannity. The alleged quality concerns are a real problem for the same reason Hamilton getting reviews that called it messy and boring be a warning sign. 

 

Costner's openly selling the film as a big synthetic narrative of the west and has given no signs of wanting to have it read as a piece of factional content. Any time Costner talks the intent to sell a unified/unifying narrative is pretty clear. 

I mean, it doesn't sound like a "woke" telling of the settling of the American west but no one seems to make the case the film sets out to be "anti-woke." It's going to succeed or fail on its own terms and those terms are pretty explicitly not those of a jeremiad which something like THR review clearly would have preferred. The messiness is that criticisms like "It’s very confusing to see a Western in 2024 and find yourself thinking, “Wait, so American Indians are the bad guys again?" (with the answer clearly being, "no, that's not how Costner self-conceptualizes the film") just tell you nothing about how the general audience will react to the metanarratives on screen.

 

People actually engage with what cultural works are saying on a more baseline competent level than negative partisanship often implies (and people's opinions are going to be messier than talking points). If it has good WoM despite reviews, what's the affirmative case that people will gravitate towards? 

 

 

[dudalb]

On 5/21/2024 at 5:32 AM, Firepower said:

What's the point in making a 3 hour setup? I think Kevin might forgot he was supposed to do 4 movies, not 1 overlong 12 hour movie or limited series. Movies have to be standalone.

You can get away with a long set up in a TV Miniseries, but  not a threatircal movie.

This really does  seem to be an idea that would have been better handled as a TV series.

Costner is not going to have another "Open Range" with this one.

And the problem with telling the whole story of the American West is it opens too late for that. You have to go back to 1820.s and the Fur Trade era for that.

Which is what the classic Minisereis "Centennial" ,miniseries did. Folllowed the history of a small town in COlorado from the days when it was a  Cheyenne village to 1979, when the  show was premiered.

I love Westerns, but will wait to catch this on streaming.

Edited May 22 by dudalb

[dudalb]

7 hours ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

Also, the film is open about it being a 'Part 1' and even more open that 'Part 2' comes out a couple months later.

 

So you're asking people to be interested so much in this film that they see both parts, only months apart, when most folks only go to a couple films per year already.

Which is why TV was always the logical place for a long narrative of this type. 

And this seems headed to bomb city.

 

Edited May 22 by dudalb

[dudalb]

7 hours ago, emoviefan said:

Just not sure the Core Yellowstone audience of Conservative Old White Men is going to get off their butt's to see a 3 hour movie with these reviews just to thumb their nose at those snooty liberal elitist critics. If it was maybe 1 hour shorter. And that is the only audience  that may even be interested at this point. Yeah this movie may be in trouble.

Nice going with the audience stereotypes.

If you don't like Westerns, just be honest and say so.

[TheDude391]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:32 AM, Firepower said:

What's the point in making a 3 hour setup? I think Kevin might forgot he was supposed to do 4 movies, not 1 overlong 12 hour movie or limited series. Movies have to be standalone.

I mean you could make this exact argument for other Part Ones like Dune, its not standalone...just set up. You can debate the merits of doing the project like this but Part 2 is only a month and a half later.

[emoviefan]

1 hour ago, dudalb said:

Nice going with the audience stereotypes.

If you don't like Westerns, just be honest and say so.

Holy Shit dude. I do not know where in my post you got that I do not like westerns.  I do. Or that I do not watch and  enjoy Yellowstone despite being  a somewhat younger white man  who is  def much less conservative. I do. But that is the core audience it caters too. And that is the audience I am sure WB was hoping for to fuel the success for this movie. My original post was referring to a earlier post that El Sid made about not discounting that audience going despite the reviews in order to thumb their noses at the snooty critics.

[wildphantom]

13 hours ago, dudalb said:

You can get away with a long set up in a TV Miniseries, but  not a threatircal movie.

This really does  seem to be an idea that would have been better handled as a TV series.

Costner is not going to have another "Open Range" with this one.

And the problem with telling the whole story of the American West is it opens too late for that. You have to go back to 1820.s and the Fur Trade era for that.

Which is what the classic Minisereis "Centennial" ,miniseries did. Folllowed the history of a small town in COlorado from the days when it was a  Cheyenne village to 1979, when the  show was premiered.

I love Westerns, but will wait to catch this on streaming.

If you love westerns then why would you wait for streaming? Because you get four of them? I don’t get it. Surely it’s the gift that keeps on giving if you’re into it?

 

Or is it that you don’t want a gap between chapters? 
 

I’m pretty sure they’ll be distinct films, despite having narratives set up to pay off in future chapters. 

 

[Parasite]

On 5/19/2024 at 9:58 PM, cinema pal said:

ehm...

 

 

Not sure how they're coming up with this. Save for Marigold, the other female characters barely get any screentime. They're all depicted as extremely naïve, serving as mere love interests for the male characters.

[Parasite]

On 5/23/2024 at 1:34 AM, TheDude391 said:

I mean you could make this exact argument for other Part Ones like Dune, its not standalone...just set up. You can debate the merits of doing the project like this but Part 2 is only a month and a half later.

 

I mean, although Dune Part One does feel like half of a film, at least there is character development within the film and it has a clear ending. Absolutely nothing happens in Horizon Part One (past the first 45 minutes), it's just people talking and Costner introducing new characters endlessly. The ending is super random. 

[dudalb]

On 5/23/2024 at 5:18 AM, wildphantom said:

If you love westerns then why would you wait for streaming? Because you get four of them? I don’t get it. Surely it’s the gift that keeps on giving if you’re into it?

 

Or is it that you don’t want a gap between chapters? 
 

I’m pretty sure they’ll be distinct films, despite having narratives set up to pay off in future chapters. 

 

Because buying tickets four times to see a original movie is a pretty hard sell?

 

[Maggie]

1 hour ago, Parasite said:

 

I mean, although Dune Part One does feel like half of a film, at least there is character development within the film and it has a clear ending. Absolutely nothing happens in Horizon Part One (past the first 45 minutes), it's just people talking and Costner introducing new characters endlessly. The ending is super random. 

That bad, huh?

[Firepower]

2 hours ago, Parasite said:

 

I mean, although Dune Part One does feel like half of a film, at least there is character development within the film and it has a clear ending.

Really? It literally ended in the most abrupt way possible in the middle of the story, as if theater projector suddenly broke.

Edited May 24 by Firepower