5, Oppenheimer Increased The Desire For Historical Epics
The success of Oppenheimer, and of course, Barbie, will likely have a massive influence on the world of Hollywood filmmaking for years to come. Oppenheimer proved that, when marketed and executed well, a biopic/historical drama can be extremely profitable. Oppenheimer is R-rated and three hours long, two qualities that might deter audiences if not for the film’s great quality and hype. While this marketability is still fresh, studios will try to emulate it with similar projects and ideas4, Kevin Costner Is Personally Invested In Horizon
Kevin Costner has invested a great deal of his own wealth and time into Horizon. This is a passion project for him, and he’s taken major gambles on the film’s success, selling acres of real estate in order to fund it. But beyond money, Costner has cast his 13-year-old son, Hayes, in the film. The star described the decision as wanting his son to be involved in a project that was close and personal to him.
3, A More Compact Story Can Avoid Yellowstone’s Problems
Yellowstone has struck gold with its storytelling at times, but Yellowstone’s latest seasons have been criticized for being redundant and less exciting than previous ones. Writing a 600-page script for a season of television each year is a challenge, having to balance a number of characters, and create a large enough antagonist that can feel threatening to the Yellowstone ranch, but not actually do enough damage to upset the show’s storytelling for the following season. A more compact series of films can avoid many of these issues of repetition and filler scenes, and focus purely on one, centered story.
2, Horizon Is A More Traditional Western
Yellowstone is a Western that takes place in the modern day. Horizon is traditional in the sense that it will take place in the 1800s and explore ideas of the American frontier, the Civil War, and cowboy mythology. Yellowstone’s prequel series 1883 was met with a ton of praise, as viewers seemed to really enjoy modern storytelling in that era. With different eras of Western films spanning decades in the industry, Horizon can use its retrospective knowledge of the genre, combining what’s worked well in the past with modern ideas.
1, There Hasn’t Been An 1800s Western Of This Scale In Decades
Western films in the past few decades haven’t been made to the scale of the traditional Westerns of the 20th century. While recent years have seen Westerns like Django Unchained and 3:10 to Yuma, none have been epics like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, or even had an ensemble cast like Tombstone. Horizon will be the biggest Western film saga in decades, which is an extremely exciting idea on its own and can make Costner’s exit from Yellowstone worth it.
