Kevin Costner Funded Another Western Box Office Bomb Before Horizon: An American Saga

Kevin Costner is a cinema legend, one who isn't afraid to take a risk when he believes in the cause at hand. The "Field of Dreams" star has put his own money into movies several times throughout his career. Most recently, he made his Western epic "Horizon: An American Saga," which bombed at the box office in 2024. The first entry in a planned four-movie saga, it made just $38 million worldwide on a reported $100 million budget.

But this was far from the first time that Costner invested his own money in an ambitious movie. In 1997, he starred in and directed "The Postman," a box office flop that nearly ended Costner's career. The post-apocalyptic adventure flick carried a hefty $80 million price tag. It's unclear just how much Costner pulled out of his pocket, but a 2024 Vanity Fair piece states that the filmmaker "put some of his own money" into the picture, which was set up at Warner Bros. Needless to say, it didn't exactly pan out.

"The Postman" is based on the book of the same name by author David Brin. It takes place years after a major global conflict has left the United States in disarray. It focuses on a nomadic traveler known as the Postman (Costner) who wanders the landscape delivering old mail. People begin to believe that the U.S. government has been restored thanks to his presence. This eventually leads to a clash with the dictator-like leader General Bethlehem (Will Patton).

Costner had a good track record as a director. Getting "Dances With Wolves" into Costner's hands took some serious doing, but it became a massive hit, taking in $424 million at the box office and winning Best Picture at the Oscars. Warner Bros. had reason to believe in him.

David Brin sold the rights to the book shortly after its 1985 publication, with Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump") penning the initial script. It sat in development hell for a long time. It wasn't until Kevin Costner came on board that it was rescued.

"He threw out all the dismal old drafts and hired Brian Helgeland, esteemed screenwriter of 'L.A. Confidential,' whose first comment was: 'Say, you know there's a pretty good novel by the same name. Why don't we borrow some stuff from it!'" Brin recalled in a post on his website.

Costner may have rescued the movie from development hell, but he couldn't save it from disaster. Part of the problem is that "The Postman" wasn't received well at all. It holds a lousy 14% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also had the unfortunate distinction of being one of the movies that "Titanic" defeated at the box office during its initial run, with James Cameron's movie ultimately going on to make $2 billion globally.

"The Postman" came and went from theaters in a matter of weeks, earning less than $18 million domestically during its entire run. It also earned only $9.4 million overseas, for a final tally of $27 million worldwide. It was a critical and commercial disaster, the likes of which Costner could hardly afford at the time.

Mind you, this was just a couple of years after "Waterworld" hugely underdelivered at the box office, taking in $264 million worldwide on a $175 million budget. While you shouldn't call "Waterworld" a bomb around Costner, the movie's reputation was, then and now, that of an epic failure. These two movies made it a rough run for the Hollywood legend.

Conan O'Brien even mocked the debacle on his late-night show (via the Washington Post) at the time, saying, "Kevin Costner has just announced that he will direct and star in his first project since 'The Postman.' The working title for the film is 'Money Down the Toilet.'"

It also didn't help that Costner was developing a bit of a reputation as difficult to work with. He reportedly refused to cut the three-hour version of "The Postman" even after two "disastrous" test screenings, per a 1999 Los Angeles Times report. Costner would later rebound as a director with 2003's "Open Range," which has one of the best shootouts ever. But he would have to settle for being an actor in other people's movies, for the most part, until "Horizon" came along.

"Horizon: An American Saga" became an obsessive passion project for him, so much so that Costner was surprisingly excited by Taylor Sheridan's "Yellowstone." While there's some dispute over why, there's no question that this planned four-movie saga and its production schedule played a role. Unfortunately for Costner, though, his history of having self-funded passion projects not work out is once again proving true.

Despite already being finished, it's still unclear what's going on with "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2," in no small part because the first movie was such a commercial disappointment. Costner was adamant that he would finish the movies as planned, but that may be a little challenging given what has transpired thus far. "The Postman" didn't totally derail his career, but it probably should have taught him a lesson about over-investing in overly expensive projects. It's apparently a lesson he had to learn at least one more time.