Kevin Costner reacts to ‘Horizon’ bombing at the box office, changes to sequel’s release

Kevin Costner is proud of his film “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One” — regardless of how it performed in theaters.

The former “Yellowstone” star, 69, wrote, directed and starred in the first installment of his new Western film series, which flopped big-time at the box office upon its release in June.

The movie made made only $32 million on a $100 million budget. Costner reportedly spent $38 million of his own money on the film.

The Oscar winner talked about his passion project’s underwhelming performance in an interview with E! News published Saturday.

“I’ve faced life with people being dismissive of me, he said. “But they can’t be dismissive of ‘Horizon,’ because now it’s out of their hands.”

“And they might point to the finish line—well, this is what it did at the box office—but I know that this movie is going to play for the next 50 years,” Costner added.

The father of seven went on, “There’s a moment in time where you want [your children] to see this movie. To understand that this is what their [ancestors] went through. It’s not just a western, it’s a history of migration and what they had to do to survive. And I’m really proud of it.”

Not only did “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One” bomb it theaters, but it also received scathing reviews from critics.

The Post movie critic Johnny Oleksinski wrote, “I could not fathom committing another 540 minutes of my time to this bloated ego trip.”

He added, “It’s hard to believe Costner left ‘Yellowstone‘ to make such an embarrassing, poorly told mess … There are more than 20 named roles scattered all over the place — the San Pedro Valley, the Montana Territory, the Western Santa Fe Trail — and viewers strain to care much for any of them, so bland and animatronic they all are.”

The “Horizon” franchise is a planned four-part film series, with the next sequel, “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two,” originally set to debut in theaters on August 16.

But after “Chapter One” tanked, its follow-up was taken off the theatrical schedule.

The sequel will now have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, where the first movie will also screen.

“That was a nice development over there,” Costner said to E! News. “They understand that it’s a saga.”

“That part is exactly how I imagined it,” he continued. “I didn’t ever imagine [the releases] six weeks apart, it was always four months, or six months. But the studio saw an opportunity, they thought it could be something. I don’t feel that anymore.”

Continuing to defend his Western film franchise that also stars Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson and Giovanni Ribisi, Costner said, “I don’t really fall out of love with something I feel strongly about Until somebody convinces me otherwise it needs to go in another direction, that doesn’t happen.”

“I feel like my job is to bring something original to people. And it’s really hard to make a good western.”

Costner previously addressed the speculation that he quit “Yellowstone” — which is returning for the second half of its fifth and final season without the actor later this year — in favor of making the “Horizon” movies.

“‘Horizon’ didn’t cause problems for me,” he told CBS Mornings’ Gayle King in June. “I wanted to work more than once a year, and it was important that I made room for ‘Yellowstone’ and made room for ‘Horizon,’ but we just — people ran through deadlines, they were busy, they had a lot to do. But ‘Horizon’ was secondary to ‘Yellowstone.’ “

“But it still had to line up,” Costner added. “I had 400 people waiting for me, so I did things in a very limited amount of time.”