When Is Denzel Washington’s ‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Streaming On Apple TV+?
Denzel Washington in “Highest 2 Lowest.”
Apple Original Films/A24
Highest 2 Lowest — director Spike Lee’s latest film starring Denzel Washington — is new in theaters in limited release on Friday, with a streaming release date already set.
The official summary for Highest 2 Lowest reads, “When a titan music mogul (Denzel Washington), widely known as having the ‘best ears in the business’’ is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.
“Brothers Denzel Washington and Spike Lee reunite for the 5th in their long working relationship for a reinterpretation of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern-day New York City.”
Rated R, Highest 2 Lowest also stars Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, Ilfenesh Hadera and Wendell Pierce.
Highest 2 Lowest held its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes International Film Festival in May. The film, Variety reported, will be playing in about 300 theaters nationwide and a wider expansion — at least for the time being — seems to be out of the cards.
The reasoning as to why is simple. Higher 2 Lower is an Apple Original Films and A24 co-production, and AppleTV+ has already announced that the film will debut on streaming video on demand on the platform on Friday, Sept. 5.
So, unless Highest 2 Lowest is still playing in limited release in theaters in three weeks, the next chance to see the film will be on AppleTV+, provided you’re an Apple TV+ subscriber. Apple TV+, which provides its programming ad-free, costs $9.99 per month after a free seven-day trial.
If Highest 2 Lowest were solely and A24 production, A24 releases generally hit digital streaming via premium video on demand before making their way to streaming video on demand on the Warner Bros. Discovery platform HBO Max.
‘Highest 2 Lowest’ is Following A Release Pattern Similar To ‘Wolfs’ And ‘The Instigators’
The quickly approaching release date for Denzel Washington and Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest doesn’t mark the first time Apple Original Films is bringing a high-profile release to Apple TV+ after a limited theatrical run.
The George Clooney and Brad Pitt crime thriller Wolfs, which was released in limited release in theaters on Sept. 20, 2024, pivoted to an Apple TV+ release a week later, on Sept. 27, 2024.
Before that, Apple Original Films’ crime comedy The Instigators, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, had a one-week limited run that began in theaters on Aug. 2, 2024, before it arrived on Apple TV+ a week later on Aug. 9, 2024.
Just because the two Apple Original Films releases went straight to Apple TV+ shortly after their theatrical debuts, it doesn’t mean that viewers won’t eventually have a different option to see Highest 2 Lowest after it premieres on Apple TV+.
For example, Wolfs became available on digital streaming via premium video on demand on May 20, a full eight months after it opened in theaters. The Instigators, however, has not yet become available on PVOD.
Highest 2 Lowest is new in theaters in limited release.