Kristen Stewart has officially taken on a new role: owner of a massive piece of Los Angeles movie history.
The actress confirmed in March the LA edition of Architectural Digest that she has purchased the legendary Highland Theatre, a 1925 landmark located in the vibrant Highland Park neighborhood.
The venue had been a local staple for nearly a century before closing its doors in 2024, and although rumors of Stewart’s involvement circulated last summer, she has now made her commitment to the site official.
Stewart admitted that she hadn’t set out to buy a movie theater on purpose until she saw the Highlands, but when she did, she felt an immediate and intense pull to secure it.
Her interest stems from a deep curiosity about old venues and the hidden stories they may contain.
“I’m fascinated by broken-down old theaters. I always want to see what mysteries they hold,” she said.
While the theater has recently appeared on the screen in Marvel’s Wonder Man and David Fincher Adventures of Cliff Booth, where it stood for Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Theater, it currently requires significant renovation.
Stewart’s plan is not to create an exclusive club for industry insiders, but to build a true community hub.
She explained that she wants to create a space where people can “plan and dream together,” calling the project a family affair.
Stewart sees the site “as an antidote to all the corporate bullsh-t, a place that takes film culture away from just buying and selling.”
She thinks “there is a huge desire and craving for what this kind of space can offer.”
The purchase is particularly significant because Highland Park is currently without any other movie theaters, despite being filled with popular bars and restaurants.
Local movie fans usually have to travel to nearby Eagle Rock for the Vidiots theater or to Silver Lake to visit the Vista Theater.
While Stewart recently suggested she might look to Europe for her future filmmaking projects, joking, “I want to make movies in Europe and then shove them down the throats of the American people,” this investment shows she’s still very much invested in the LA indie scene.
She told Architectural Digest that she intends to fix the many historic details that have fallen into disrepair and revive the building in a way that respects its 1925 roots while providing the neighborhood with something completely fresh.
For Stewart, the ultimate goal is to introduce “new ideas” to the LA film community and move away from the corporate nature of modern cinema.
