30 Years Later, Kevin Costner’s Notorious Sci-Fi Flop Officially Makes a Massive Streaming Comeback

Since leaving his role as John Dutton in Taylor Sheridan‘s hugely popular Yellowstone, it’s not been an easy ride for Kevin Costner. Having had a passion project brewing for 35 years, Costner left Dutton behind and started development on a proposed four-part epic, titled Horizon: An American Saga. Costner not only directed, co-wrote, produced, and starred, but also largely self-funded the project, which looked set to be the next big Western cinema experience.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, with Horizon: An American Saga‘s first installment making less than $40 million against a reported budget of $50 million, and leaving the future of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 in doubt, despite it having reportedly been filmed and even screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2024. But this high-profile flop is nothing new to Costner, who starred in one of the biggest financial failures of the 1990s.

The film in question is Waterworld, which was one of the most expensive films of all time in 1995 and scored just over $250 million despite having a box office budget reportedly in a similar range. The film also faced huge critical backlash: “It’s one of those marginal pictures you’re not unhappy to have seen, but can’t quite recommend,” wrote famed critic Roger Ebert​​​​​​. Over three decades later, Waterworld is a surprise hit. At the time of writing, it is one of the ten most-watched movies on Tubi in the U.S., a list topped by the Tom Hanks-led gem The Green Mile.

• The Wachowskis’ 1999 film won four Academy Awards, including Visual Effects and Film
  Editing.
• Bullet time was shot with a rig of roughly 120 still cameras firing in sequence around the
  actors.
• Keanu Reeves trained in martial arts for about four months before a frame was shot,
  recovering from neck surgery the whole time.
• It opened the same year as Fight Club and eXistenZ, in a run of films about not trusting the
  world in front of you.

• Mad Max: Fury Road won six Academy Awards in 2016, more than any other film that year.
• George Miller storyboarded the entire film as roughly 3,500 panels before there was a
  script.
• The chase was shot almost entirely practical in the Namib Desert, with real vehicles and
  real stunt performers.
• Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth carried the prequel, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, in 2024.

• Blade Runner 2049 won Roger Deakins his first Oscar for cinematography, on his fourteenth
  nomination.
• The film also took Best Visual Effects, 35 years after Ridley Scott’s 1982 original.
• Villeneuve shot it on large-format film and kept the fog and rain practical on set wherever
  he could.
• Three short films by Luke Scott and Shinichiro Watanabe bridge the 30-year gap between the
  two movies.

• Denis Villeneuve’s Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022, including Cinematography and
  Original Score.
• Hans Zimmer turned down Christopher Nolan’s Tenet so he could score Dune instead.
• Dune: Part Two arrived in 2024 and brought in Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher
  Walken.
• David Lynch’s 1984 version and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s unmade one are both their
  own legends by now.

• The 1977 original won six Academy Awards plus a special achievement award for sound effects.
• John Williams’ score was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and became the
  best-selling symphonic film soundtrack ever.
• Andor took the galaxy somewhere colder and earned Emmy nominations for drama series in both
  seasons.
• The saga now runs across eleven feature films and a growing shelf of series on Disney+.

What Is Kevin Costner Making Next?

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal Pictures

• Image via Universal Pictures

After the sadly disastrous move into his American Saga, Costner is calming down with a starring role in an upcoming comedy-drama. Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, from a script by Paradise creator Dan Fogelman, Honeymoon With Harry stars Costner as the titular Harry, the father-in-law of Jake Gyllenhaal‘s Todd, as the pair go on a honeymoon after the latter’s fiancée dies two days before his wedding. Based on a Bart Barker novel of the same name, a film adaptation of the movie has been in development hell for roughly 25 years and is finally making it over the line.

Waterworld is a free streaming hit right now on Tubi. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for the latest streaming stories.

Waterworld

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