While awaiting (perhaps someday) the sequels to Horizon: An American Saga, Dances with Wolves is returning in an unreleased version.
In recent years, whenever Kevin Costner’s name comes up, it’s hard not to think of the nightmare surrounding his Horizon: An American Saga franchise.
Before it exploded on Netflix in the United States, the first film of this saga was a box-office flop (worldwide gross of $39 million, while the first two installments were produced for $100 million). Subsequently, the second installment had its theatrical release date pulled; while the third, though partly shot, struggles to secure financing to finish production.
And all that without mentioning the legal troubles facing the film crew, sued here and there by former collaborators (stuntwoman Devyn LaBella, the distributor New Line, the costume company Western Costume Co.). This chaos would almost make you forget the glory years of Kevin Costner, the actor unforgettable in The Untouchables, JFK, A Perfect World, but also the director of the Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves.
Kevin Costner’s Real Comeback?
Dances with Wolves, precisely, is set to return to the big screen. Indeed, on Monday, July 6, Locarno Film Festival organizers announced that the film will be shown in a newly restored 4K extended edition at the festival’s 79th edition. On Friday, August 7, at Locarno’s Piazza Grande, audiences will be able to (re)discover the film directed by Kevin Costner in a montage of almost four hours, featuring more than thirty minutes of previously unseen footage.
Following this Locarno screening, it seems likely that this new cut of Dances with Wolves will receive a forthcoming release on home video and/or in theaters. While Costner remains seeking funding to finish shooting Horizon 3 and to start 4, reviving this 1990 film appears to be a good way to remind audiences what the American filmmaker-actor was capable of at the peak of his career.
For reference, Dances with Wolves tells the story of an American soldier during the Civil War who befriends a Sioux tribe. The film swept seven Oscars in 1991, including Best Picture and Best Director. While we wait to learn whether this new version of Dances with Wolves will land on our big or small screens here in the U.S., note that the Locarno Film Festival runs from August 5 to 15.
