Apple and A24 today unveiled the first official trailer for Highest 2 Lowest, their Kurosawa-inspired crime thriller reuniting Spike Lee and Denzel Washington for the first time since Inside Man back in 2006.
The film will hit theaters on August 15 before arriving on Apple TV+ on September 5. The story is a modern reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low, which was itself based on the novel King’s Ransom by Ed McBain. While the original thriller follows a shoe company exec who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom, the new film, set in contemporary NYC, sees a music mogul played by Washington contend with a similar plot.
Also starring A$AP Rocky, as well as Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Dean Winters, John Douglas Thompson, and Ice Spice, Highest 2 Lowest debuted out of competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It was the sixth time Lee debuted a film in the Cannes Official Selection, and marked 36 years to the day since his first appearance with Do the Right Thing.
Developed and produced by Apple and A24, Escape Artists and Mandalay Pictures, the film is written by Alan Fox and Lee. Todd Black produced for Escape Artists alongside Jason Michael Berman for Mandalay Pictures. Exec producers included Lee for 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, and Mandalay’s Peter Guber, as well as Juniper Productions’ Matthew Lindner, Chris Brigham, and Katia Washington. Mandalay’s Jordan Moldo served as co-producer.
Check out the trailer for Highest 2 Lowest above.
