Apple Original Films and A24 are partnering on High and Low, which reunites longtime collaborators Spike Lee and Denzel Washington with Washington starring and Lee directing. A24 will release the film theatrically before its global launch on Apple TV+.

The film is an English-language reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller. While its unknown how similar the High and Low plot will be, Kurosawa’s movie follows an executive at a Yokohama shoe company who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

Developed and produced by A24, Escape Artists and Mandalay Pictures and written by Alan Fox and Lee, the new thriller starts production in March. High and Low will be produced by Todd Black for Escape Artists and Jason Michael Berman for Mandalay Pictures.

The film marks the second collaboration for Apple Original Films and Washington following the multi-Oscar-nominated The Tragedy of Macbeth, also from A24. For more, read the full Deadline report.

According to Variety, As Apple is a co-financier on “High and Low,” this project will not be included in a recent multi-year deal that A24 brokered with competing streaming service Max last year, sources familiar with the movie said. The Max deal covers the “pay one” window for A24 releases, which is a term for the typical period when a film first hits cable or streaming after a theatrical release and paid video-on-demand.

Archive: Apple TV News