Kevin Costner’s highly anticipated historical epic Horizon: An American Saga looks to be a landmark film in the modern Western genre. The classic Western used to be one of the most beloved and reliable movies in Hollywood, particularly from 1940 to 1960 in what is considered the Golden Age of the Western genre. Some of the best Westerns ever made came out of this era, such as The Searchers (1956), High Noon (1952), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Magnificent Seven (1960).
Costner’s plan to create at least four Horizon movies is an ambitious effort, with the first two films releasing in the summer of 2024. Based on the recently released trailer, it appears that Costner’s decision to leave Yellowstone to pursue the project might have been for the better of the modern Western genre at large. Even though Costner will be making a huge comeback in the director’s chair, a role he hasn’t played since 2003’s Open Range, the modern Western genre has still had many great additions since Costner’s Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves (1990).
Kevin Costner’s Horizon Releases A Year After Martin Scorsese’s Epic Western
Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award nominee Killers of the Flower Moon is considered a Western epic, indicating that an outstanding new installment of the modern Western has been made as recently as 2023. Killers of the Flower Moon is rooted in Western themes and settings, while Costner’s Horizon is sure to look and feel more like a traditional Western, with clear similarities to John Wayne and Clint Eastwood classics.
Costner’s Horizon: An America Saga will likely mark a monumental and unmatched Western movie franchise in this day and age, one that could potentially rival the success of his widely popular Yellowstone series. Horizon looks to truly embody the classic American Western of a bygone era, whereas Killers of the Flower Moon utilizes the sensibilities and aesthetics of a Western in its timeless tale of greed, crime, and corruption. Killers of the Flower Moon may be considered a Western, but Horizon looks to completely embody the Western genre in every sense of the word.
There Have Been Great Western Movies Since Kevin Costner’s Last Big Western Movie
Since Costner’s Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves, for which he won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, there has still been a variety of outstanding revisionist Westerns that have also received Oscar recognition. 1992’s Unforgiven is considered one of the darkest and most well-crafted Westerns of all time. No Country for Old Men became an instant Western classic in 2007. Both Unforgiven and No Country for Old Men won the Oscar for Best Picture. True Girt (2010), Django Unchained (2012), and Hell or High Water (2016) are other examples of modern Western classics, a category that Horizon will surely be added to.