By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The second part of Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga’ will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, organizers said Wednesday. “Chapter 2” was originally set for a mid-August theatrical debut but was pulled from the schedule after “Chapter 1” underperformed.
The continuation of the Western epic will play out of competition on September 7, the last day of the festival, alongside a screening of part one. Costner, in a statement, said that his “dream” was always to show the film at Venice. The first installment had a glitzy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
Alberto Barbera, the director of the Venice Film Festival, described it as the “visionary project of a great actor and director, who invested himself in the epic reconstruction of the years crucial to the founding of the country, digging beyond myth in search of authenticity capable of restoring a piece of history in its complex and contradictory reality.”
The back-to-back release for both films, one in June and one in August, was unconventional. Then the first chapter collected only $23 million in its first two weeks in theaters. In announcing the change of plans, New Line Cinema said they hoped to give more audiences more time to discover Chapter 1.
A passion project for more than 30 years, Costner put some of his own money into making the ambitious films, and has already begun shooting a third installment of what he envisions will ultimately be four movies.
“I’m indebted to Alberto Barbera for his courage and leadership in committing to this cinematic journey,” Costner said. “Long live the movies and those willing to stand for them.”
The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival kicks off on Aug. 28. Among its most anticipated world premieres are “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “The Room Next Door,” “Maria,” “Queer” and “Wolfs.”
Director Jon M. Chu Discusses “Wicked” Ways, The Beauty Of Musicals
"Musical" has been a dirty word lately in Hollywood marketing, but "Wicked" director Jon M. Chu isn't having it.
Of course, there's no running from the term when you're bringing to the screen one of the most popular Broadway shows of the 21st century, or telling a story so connected to one of the most beloved movie musicals ever, "The Wizard of Oz." But Chu, the 44-year-old filmmaker of 2021's "In the Heights" who as a young man was transported by "Wicked" on the stage, is a true believer in form.
"When words aren't enough, music is the extension of your expression. That's what movies do, and that's what musicals do," says Chu. "When it's tied into their communication of where characters are at in this moment and time, it's the most beautiful thing."
"Wicked," which Universal Pictures will release Nov. 22 in theaters, is one of the fall's biggest gambles not just because it's been split in two (the second "Wicked" film will arrive in fall 2025), but because it's going all-out for a big-screen, song-and-dance spectacular at a time when other films (see "Wonka" and "Mean Girls") have sought to shroud their musical underpinnings.
"Everyone knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, once in a lifetime to make a movie of this scale, of this moment when cinema is being questioned of what place it has in our life," says Chu. "We had to shoot the moon."
"Wicked," written by Winnie Holzman (who penned the book to the musical) and Dana Fox, stars Cynthia Erivo as the green-skinned Elphaba Thropp, who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande as Galinda, the future Good Witch of the South.
Various forms of a "Wicked" movie been in development almost since the Broadway show opened in 2003 — earlier, in fact,... Read More