Kristen Stewart admitted she purchased a 100-year-old movie theater in “a desperate move,” but assured fans that they didn’t want to miss out on the cinema experience.
During Monday’s episode of “The Tonight Show,” the actress, who was promoting her new film “The Wrong Girls,” explained to host Jimmy Fallon what inspired her to save the historic Highland Theatre in Los Angeles’ Highland Park.
“Honestly, it was kind of like a desperate move. Like, a slightly foolhardy thing,” Stewart said. “But I was just like, imagine if this thing became like, a f–king Urban Outfitters or something. I would be so sad.”
As Stewart went on, she took umbrage with the way things are “changing all the time.”
“I think there was like, a moment where people were thinking movies were like, dead. Or the theater experience wasn’t going to be like, the thing anymore,” she added. “It’s like, where did you first do anything? Didn’t you make out in [the movies]. You want to hang out in the dark.”
Stewart also touted the building as one that’s withstood the test of time, sharing, “The layers of decades that they have not cleaned out. Like, you just go, ‘Oh my god! The ’20s, the ’30s, the ’40s.”
Stewart’s update for the Highland Theatre – which first opened in 1925 as a vaudeville venue and movie house — came six months after it was revealed that the “Twilight” alum had scooped up the storied space.
As we reported at the time, Stewart purchased the property with the plan to revive the over a century-old movie palace and reimagine it as a community-driven cinema space.
Kristen Stewart bought a 100-year-old movie theater! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/oWbOS02jhL
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) August 11, 2026
“Making films is a political act,” Stewart said in a statement to media. “You have to decide how you want to wield your presence and your voice.”
She added: “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.”
Stewart also explained in February that her plans extended beyond a straightforward restoration, noting, “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.”
Stewart maintained that the theater would be “an antidote to all the corporate bulls–t.”
The Highland Theatre isn’t the only historic cinema to be saved in 2026, as Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed last month that they would restore and reopen Hollywood’s iconic Cinerama Dome.
The post Kristen Stewart Makes a Case for the Cinema Experience After Buying a Historic Movie Theater: ‘You Want to Hang Out in the Dark’ appeared first on TheWrap.
