Quentin Tarantino Buys Historic Vista Theatre

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Director Quentin Tarantino revealed he recently purchased the historic Vista Theatre in Hollywood, with plans to reopen it near the end of the year. Tarantino made the announcement on Monday's episode of the "Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard" podcast.

"I'll announce one thing here that people don't know yet: I bought the Vista. We're going to probably open it up around Christmastime," Tarantino said.

The venue, which opened in 1923, has been closed since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

"Something is going to happen, something wonderful," the theater wrote on its website. we are hard at work preparing a more spectacular and dazzling Vista Theatre for you later this year."

Tarantino purchased the New Beverly Cinema in 2007, which re-opened last month and mostly plays older films. But the director of "Pulp Fiction" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" said the Vista will primarily screen new movies.

"It won't be a revival house," he said. "We'll show new movies that come out where they give us a film print, we'll show new stuff. It's not going to be like the New Beverly, the New Beverly has its own vibe. The Vista is like a crown jewel kind of thing. So it will be the best prints, we'll show older films, but they'll be like older films where you can hold a fortnight engagement."

Lance Alspaugh, who had owned the theater since 1997, told the Los Angeles Times in June he was waiting for approval on his application for federal funds, and that the venue would likely remain closed for a while after the grant was cleared while the company made refurbishments.

“We can’t do anything until we know we have the government grant; it’s really that simple,” Alspaugh said.

City News Service contributed to this report.