Denzel Washington, Spike Lee Couldn't Have Made ‘Highest 2 Lowest' Without Apple Streaming Deal: ‘Industry Has Changed'
Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's 'Highest 2 Lowest' hits theaters on Aug. 15 and in a joint interview with Vanity Fair published Thursday, the pair discussed the film's limited theatrical release and how Apple played a big part in getting the film made.
The film will hit the streamer in September. While discussing the shifting landscape of film distribution they acknowledged how limited theatrical rollout is now the name of the game in the industry.
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Denzel Washington, Spike Lee Couldn't Have Made 'Highest 2 Lowest' Without Apple Streaming Deal: 'Industry Has Changed'
'That's the nature of the business now—they also gave us a lot of money to make the film,' Washington said of Apple's involvement. 'The industry has changed. Time has changed. So we've got to change with the times.'
'This film would not have been made without Apple,' Lee said. 'That's just the truth.'
Though Washington and Lee are regarded as an iconic actor/director pairing, it's been a long time since they last partnered in this way. Their first collaboration was 'Mo' Better Blues,' released in 1990, followed by 'Malcolm X' (for which Washington scored a Best Actor nomination) and 'He Got Game' later that decade. Their most recent team-up was 'Inside Man,' which came in 2006 — nearly two decades prior to 'Highest 2 Lowest.'
Now, they're playing with house money at A24, with the film (produced in part by Apple Studios) scheduled to land on Apple TV+ on Sept 5.
It's a move that gave the pair the freedom to make the film, which adapts Akira Kurosawa's 'High and Low' in the modern day, how they saw fit. It also meant 'Highest 2 Lowest' would have a truncated theatrical window of three weeks — with major chains like AMC and Cinemark not screening the film at all.
'We'd done this four times already, and the last time was a great box office success,' Lee said. 'Not to say that all success is built upon box office, but—'
'But it is called show business,' Washington added. 'No business, no show. No business, no next show.'
'That's true,' Lee said. 'We understand the ramifications of this business.'
When the pair made 'Inside Man,' they brought in more than $180 million at the box office. Washington's last theatrical film, 'Gladiator 2,' made roughly $462 million with a budget in the hundreds of millions. A more modest effort, Lee's last solo theatrical effort, 'BlacKkKlansman' (starring Denzel's son, John David Washington) made over $90 million on an approximate budget of $15 million.
'Highest 2 Lowest's' theatrical strategy all but guarantees these numbers will be impossible for Lee and Washington's latest film. Still, the pair urged those who are able to go out and see the film before they stream it in September.
'I'll keep saying August 15,' Washington said.
'No matter how big that TV on the wall in your home is, see it in theaters first,' Lee said.
The post Denzel Washington, Spike Lee Couldn't Have Made 'Highest 2 Lowest' Without Apple Streaming Deal: 'Industry Has Changed' appeared first on TheWrap.
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