Is Kevin Costner’s New Western ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Streaming? When Will it Come to Max?
Kevin Costner’s passion project ‘Horizon’ was one of the driving factors behind his ‘Yellowstone’ exit, and it’s in theaters this weekend.
The new Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1” is riding into theaters this weekend. The movie sees Kevin Costner return to the director’s chair, and he’ll get plenty of screen time as one of the film’s headlining stars. The movie makes its anticipated premiere in theaters on Friday, June 28, but is it also available to stream?
Key Details:
- “Horizon” is a theatrical exclusive, and has accrued a 70% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
- The film is being distributed by New Line Cinema through Warner Bros. Discovery, so it’ll stream on Max first.
- WBD has been a bit scattershot with the timing of its streaming releases lately, making it somewhat difficult to peg a streaming date for “Horizon.”
“Horizon” is intended to be the first in a series of four movies that tell the story of the settling of the American West. The first movie takes place during the Civil War, and shows the journey of various families and individuals as they flee the war-torn states and try to find new lives for themselves.
Audiences are liking the movie, as 70% have given it a thumbs-up on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics say the film’s ambitious premise makes the story feel a bit unwieldy for one movie, but its place as the first of four films in a series could be partially responsible for that impression.
When Will ‘Horizon’ Be Available to Stream on Max?
If the three-hour runtime of “Horizon” has you hoping you can stream it at home to enjoy a bathroom break or two during playback, I’ve got bad news. “Horizon” is a theatrical exclusive for now, though it likely won’t take more than a month or so for it to land on premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platforms like the Apple TV store, Vudu and Prime Video for rental or purchase.
Warner Bros. Discovery believes in keeping movies in theaters and on digital purchase-only platforms for as long as they’re generating good revenue. But that means its pattern for releasing films to stream on Max is a bit difficult to nail down; “Dune: Part Two” came to Max after 81 days, and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” will arrive on the service on July 4, 97 days after its initial release in theaters. But The Color Purple” showed up on Max just 53 days after its release, showing there’s no hard-and-fast rule for WBD releases past the 45-day minimum studios and theater chains have agreed to.
With that in mind, I think “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” will come in between “Dune” and “Godzilla,” and arrive on Max in 91 days — Friday, Sept. 27. Streamers often like to release new movies on Fridays to take advantage of weekend viewership, and I think that will hold true in the case of an epic with a long runtime like “Horizon.”
Max
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