Epic films are not easy to make. They’re even harder to do when you don’t have a company that wants to bankroll or it or one to distribute it. If you don’t believe us, just ask Francis Ford Coppola. The amount of money and effort he put into “Megalopolis.” He had to finance the film himself, and struggled to find a distributor but at least he got the entirety of his vision out the door. The same can’t be said for Kevin Costner who is still struggling to get his “Horizon” films out to the masses. On top of numerous financial issues, two costume rental houses have filed lawsuits against Costner’s production company to the tune of $440,000.
In 2024, the Costner written and directed Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga” debuted in theaters. Planned as the beginning of a four-part tale, the first installment landed with a thud, earning mixed critical response and failing to make back nearly enough to cover its $50 million budget. Costner, either sure it would make bank or just wanting to fulfill his artistic vision, was undeterred by having filmed the first two parts back-to-back and moving forward with filming the third. Besides writing, directing, and starring in the project, he also fronted up tens of millions of dollars out of his own pocket to make the films. Apparently, someone forgot to pay the costuming department.
Western Costume claims they were not paid an invoice of $134,000 for rented apparel, in addition to fees for the costumes being returned damaged. What’s more, this isn’t the first time this has happened. Last year, the United Costume Corporation also filed suit against Costner’s production associates for $350,000 for unpaid bills. That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount but it’s still too early on to see what’s going to happen for Western Costume.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so awful for “Horizon” as a whole if it weren’t for the other problems it’s facing. The second chapter in the four-part franchise has already been made and shown at festivals but doesn’t have a distributor to give it a wide release. Part three is not fully financed and it’s unclear as of this writing if Costner is going to be able to secure the funding for it and its finale. The western genre has been a notoriously tricky one over the decades. Where it was once a force in film and television, it went out of style in the early ’90s and has only recently seen a comeback with series like “Yellowstone” bringing it back into prominence.
Given the woes that Costner and his production company have had trying to see “Horizon” across the finish line it’s hard to say whether this latest lawsuit is the product of a disagreement over payment, or if the budget literally isn’t/wasn’t there to pay for the costumes. It’s a story that has a lot of moving parts to it considering the bigger issues of whether the rest of the films will even be successfully financed. We’ll continue to update you as we find out more.
