Kevin Costner‘s acclaimed Western movie is set to return with a four-hour extended cut. The classic film was originally released over three decades ago.

What do we know about Kevin Costner’s 4-hour director’s cut of Dances With Wolves?

Kevin Costner’s western masterpiece Dances With Wolves has been restored with a 4K version of its 4-hour extended cut. It will make its premiere at the 79th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland this summer, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

The 4-hour cut is the Director’s Cut of Dances With Wolves. After an original theatrical release in 1990, the 4-hour cut made its way to select theaters in 1991. Now, that same version has been restored for modern-day viewers.

The restoration was done by Zurich-based laboratory Cinegrell, in partnership with the Locarno festival through its Locarno Heritage project. “As presented on the giant screen of the Piazza Grande in the nearly four-hour extended edition – incorporating over half an hour of previously unseen additional material – this restoration offers audiences the chance to rediscover Costner’s expansive popular masterpiece as it was originally intended to be seen by the director himself.”

Dances With Wolves is considered one of the most iconic and influential films of all time, especially in the western genre. At the 1991 Oscars, the movie made a record, winning seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was also the first western to win any Oscar since 1931’s Cimarron.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie still holds a combined, and impressive, Tomatometer and Popcornmeter score of 87%. Dances With Wolves was a massive box office hit as well. Made on a small budget of just $19 million, it went on to collect more than $420 million worldwide.

The restored 4K version of Kevin Costner’s 4-hour extended cut for Dances With Wolves will premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 7, 2026.