Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino recently appeared on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast and announced that he had purchased famed Los Angeles theater, intending to reopen it by the holiday season. He told Shepard that he had planned for a while to buy the Vista Theatre in Los Feliz, calling it a “crown jewel. ”The Vista is a historic single-screen theater in LA and was one of a number of cinemas that closed due to the challenges the industry faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tarantino himself has a special connection to the theater, as he wrote the 1993 film True Romance, which had scenes shot on location at the theater.
In the podcast, Tarantino said, “When we opened up the New Beverly about two weeks ago, in June, we sold out every single show. And 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. And again, only film. But it won’t be a revival house — 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.”
The Vista has faced previous challenges in imminent closures. According to Comic Book Movies, there were rumors circulating around as far back as 2014 that the theater would close. However, Tarantino is one of many filmmakers who are very vocal in support of the “theatrical experience”, wanting their movies shown on the biggest and highest-quality screens. His purchase of The Vista is evident of that, and the revival of moviegoers’ experience will hopefully improve over the next year or so as more theaters start to open up again.
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