Kristen Stewart Buys L.A.’s Highland Movie Theater

Kristen Stewart confirms in the March L.A. issue of Architectural Digest that she has purchased the historic Highland Theatre in Los Angeles’ buzzy Highland Park neighborhood.

The Highland Theatre, which opened in 1925, was a neighborhood fixture until it closed in 2024. It was rumored that Stewart had bought it last summer as it was being prepped for a film shoot.

“I didn’t realize I was looking for a theater until this place came to my attention. Then it was like a gunshot went off and the race was on. I ran toward it with everything I had,” she told Architectural Digest. “I’m fascinated by broken-down old theaters. I always want to see what mysteries they hold.”

Stewart recently said that she would probably be making movies in Europe instead of the U.S., but the theater purchase indicates her commitment to supporting indie film in L.A. “I’d like to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throat of the American people,” she said last week.

The theater was recently featured in Marvel Television’s series “Wonder Man” and was used extensively to film David Fincher’s “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” doubling for Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Theatre.

Stewart said she intends to make the theater, which requires extensive renovation, into a space for the whole community. “It’s an opportunity to make a space to gather and scheme and dream together…We want to make it a family affair, something for the community. It’s not just for pretentious Hollywood cinephiles. I see it as an antidote to all the corporate bullshit, a place that takes movie culture away from just buying and selling. I think there’s a huge desire and craving for what this kind of space can offer.”

While there are no other movie theaters in the Highland Park neighborhood, which is packed with bars, coffee shops and restaurants, nearby Eagle Rock has the Vidiots theater, while Tarantino’s Vista Theater is several miles away in Silver Lake. The nearby cities of Glendale and Pasadena are served by Laemmle and Landmark arthouses, respectively.

Stewart hopes to bring “new ideas” into the restored theater, she told Architectural Digest. “There are so many beautiful details that need to be restored. I think there’s a way to bring the building back to life in a way that embraces its history but also brings something new to the neighborhood and something new to the whole L.A. film community. That’s the point — new ideas.”