Summary

• Kevin Costner confirms the sequels for Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 will also be around 3 hours each.
• The total runtime for all parts of the Western epic will be approximately 12 hours, making it an incredibly lengthy story.
• The 12-year timeline, an ensemble cast of characters, and Costner's dedication to the project justify how long Horizon: An American Saga's movies will be.

Kevin Costner confirms the runtimes of the installments of Horizon: An American Saga after Chapter 1 was revealed to be around three hours in length. It was previously confirmed that the first film in the series will be around three hours, with some sources reporting the final runtime to be 181 minutes. However, the other parts in the forthcoming Horizon: An American Saga have yet to have their lengths revealed, making it unclear how long the Western epic will actually be.

However, while speaking to Collider about the four-part saga, Costner said the next three movies in Horizon: An American Saga will also be around three hours in length. The director, writer, and star of the Western epic confirmed this with a simple "Yeah" when asked if the next movies will be around the same length as Chapter 1. This means the final product will come in at around 12 hours long in total, making it an incredibly fleshed-out experience.

Why The Horizon: An American Saga Movies Will Be So Long

Horizon Has A Lot Of Ground To Cover

It's clear from Horizon: An American Saga's trailers that the Western movie is Costner's most ambitious project to date. Having first come up with the idea for the movie in 1988, it continued to grow until it became the sprawling epic it is today. The movie sports an ensemble cast of characters, including key performances from Sienna Miller (The Girl), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Giovanni Ribisi (Sneaky Pete), and Danny Huston (Yellowstone), among dozens of other actors. Even without exact runtimes, it's clear how long this adventure is going to be.

Alongside the scope of its many characters, the movies are set to take place over the course of 12 years in the mid-1800s. Because of how long the timeline for the story is going to be, it will require plenty of time to flesh out its core characters, as well as their arcs during America's expansion westward. Since the movie will focus on multiple storylines pertaining to this point in US history, the complexities therein will also require longer runtimes.

Despite mixed reviews for Chapter 1 after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the long runtimes of the installments show Costner intends to fully complete his Western epic no matter what. It's possible that, by the time all chapters in Horizon: An American Saga are released, the 12-hour behemoth will help realign critical reception for the first movie. While it's still unknown what the complete, four-movie film will look like, its creator clearly has a vision for just how vast its story is going to be.

Source: Collider