Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Recent Western Officially Hits HBO Max

When Warner Bros. unveiled the first trailer for Kevin Costner's ambitious passion project, a four-part Western film franchise that the actor was aiming to self-finance, a cheer erupted among fans of old-school Hollywood studio movies. This was during the heyday of the superhero genre, and in the aftermath of the director-driven blockbuster Oppenheimer's industry-altering box-office success. Warner Bros. had famously shot itself in the foot with a controversial 2021 release strategy that saw each movie on its slate being released day-and-date on HBO Max and in theaters, resulting in Christopher Nolan publicly severing ties with the studio. Among the many victims of Warner Bros.' 2021 strategy was Cry Macho, which many believed could have been Clint Eastwood's final film as a director.

The era of filmmaker-driven studio movies, especially at Warner Bros., was believed to be over. But then management changed and with it, the studio's strategy. Suddenly, movies like Sinners and One Battle After Another were given the green light. And among the studio's 2024 slate was Costner's ambitious Western. This was the project that the actor-director quit Yellowstone over, and now, the series' first two installments were getting a major theatrical release. The first part was scheduled for release in June, followed by the second part in August. But then, tragedy struck. The first installment underperformed at the box office, which resulted in Warner Bros. shelving the sequel. The third installment, which Costner had partially begun working on, was put on hold.

Quentin Tarantino Singled the Movie Out

We're talking, of course, about Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1. The movie was partially self-financed by Costner at a reported production budget of $50 million, but it grossed only $38 million worldwide. The hope was for it to find its audience at home before future installments are produced. The movie is available for audiences in the United States on HBO Max, but has seen chart-climbing in non-US territories like Ireland and Sweden, via Prime Video throughout the year. Horizon received mixed reviews and is now sitting at a 51% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. But the world's biggest Western aficionado, Quentin Tarantino, singled it out as one of the few recent movies that he really enjoyed, alongside Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake.