AppleTV+ has had a difficult time moving into the world of theatrical releases, and their latest movie, which reteams Denzel Washington and Spike Lee, is paying for it. While AppleTV+ has had some of the best shows on television, its movie offering has been a bit more mixed, both in quality and in success.

Smaller movies like CODA allowed the streamer to win the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture for a streaming movie, but the film’s unusual release caused it to earn less than $2 million worldwide. While this was during the COVID-19 pandemic, movies like Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon also suffered theatrically, forcing Apple to rethink their future.

Fortunately, F1: The Movie led to incredible box office success this summer after Apple teamed with Warner Bros. for its distribution. From there, many expected a more robust plan for the streamer’s next big movie, with its release partnered alongside A24. Unfortunately, this does not seem to have happened, and the film’s future looks uncertain.

Highest 2 Lowest’s Marketing Strategy Before Its Release Has Been Strange

Spike Lee’s reunion with Denzel Washington for the first time in nearly 20 years happens in the upcoming Highest 2 Lowest, a film which remakes Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, which is itself an adaptation of the 1959 Evan Hunter novel King’s Ransom. Unfortunately, the lead-up to the film’s release has been unusual.

Highest 2 Lowest debuted earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, where it screened outside of the compeтιтion. That is not too unusual, but the way it was announced was. Spike Lee announced the Cannes debut himself online an hour after Thierry Frémaux’s list of Official Selection тιтles was revealed.

Rather than having the festival or Apple make the big reveal for such an anticipated тιтle, the director doing it himself came off as a bit odd. Cannes director Thierry Frémaux justified the movie not being on the official announcement because they “wanted to be cautious” and wait for certainty about Washington’s presence at the event.

This was an odd start for such a significant project, but the release has only grown stranger since. Before Highest 2 Lowest premieres in theaters on August 15, Apple already revealed that the movie will stream on AppleTV+ in only a few weeks, on September 5th.

This announcement suggests little faith in the movie’s box office, which is odd considering Denzel and Spike have delivered at least one big hit together. Denzel has been a bona fide box office draw for decades away from the director, too, so Highest 2 Lowest has strong potential on paper.

This reflects an unusual marketing strategy for Highest 2 Lowest, as Apple and A24 have not gone overboard on the press tour and advertisement campaign. That makes some sense considering the studios are only releasing the movie in 300 theaters in its limited opening weekend. How much it expands in the next few weeks is unclear.

Highest 2 Lowest‘s release is even unusual by Apple’s standards of staggering streaming releases. Last year’s Fly Me to the Moon, starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, premiered in theaters in July and did not receive an AppleTV+ release until December. Even Argylle got to be in theaters for over two months before going to streaming.

Conversely, F1: The Movie began its theatrical rollout in June, and there is still no planned date for the Brad Pitt-starring feature to be available on their service. It appears that Apple is still figuring out its theatrical release strategy, and Highest 2 Lowest is seemingly not being given a sH๏τ to continue the studio’s H๏τ streak.

Denzel Washington & Spike Lee’s First Movie Since 2006 Deserved A Bigger Rollout

Denzel Washington and Spike Lee’s movies have been some of the biggest event films in the past decades. Malcolm X was a powerful and exciting biographical drama that told important stories, while Inside Man crafted some of the most fun theatrical experiences of the 2000s.

Reuniting these Hollywood legends in Highest 2 Lowest seems like it would inspire a more robust theatrical release, with more marketing behind it. Denzel Washington remains a box office draw with his Equalizer movies, as well as in Gladiator II, and it is disappointing to see that this latest big-budget drama will not be in theaters for long.

While even Spike Lee’s best movies haven’t often been huge box office hits, it is disappointing to see his recent work not even given much of a chance to succeed now. Netflix’s Da 5 Bloods was strong, but it was not able to have as large a cultural impact as it deserved, thanks to how quickly things shift in streaming.

Especially after the release of F1, Apple should want buzzy, star-focused genre movies that audiences would want to see in theaters. Highest 2 Lowest could fit that mold if it had a sufficient promotional push. The film’s release now feels less significant than it should, given Denzel and Spike’s reunion.

Unfortunately, Highest 2 Lowest feels less like a major release and more like a streaming movie at this point. Its theatrical rollout is much smaller than initially hoped when Apple and A24 teamed up for distribution. That suggested this would be a theatrical event on some level, not a movie with such a limited run.

Pairing Washington and Lee together after all this time seems like a great recipe for a culturally resonant product, but the film’s release already seems to have hampered its potential success.

AppleTV+ should have had more faith in Highest 2 Lowest to give it a more robust rollout and trust that audiences would rush out to see it in theaters. Instead, the re-teaming of these Hollywood greats in a Kurosawa remake has a tougher hill to climb to find success in theaters.