Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy now owns 100-year-old movie theater he went to a lot as a kid: the place has been closed since the pandemic

Oscar-winning actor Cillian Murphy and his wife, artist Yvonne McGuinness, have announced the purchase of the Phoenix Cinema in Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland. The couple will begin renovating and reconstructing the building in 2025 after it has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The facility has served the Irish as a movie theater and dance hall for over a hundred years. The British weekly Time Out previously named the Phoenix "one of 50 best cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland". According to the Irish Times, the Oppenheimer star said that he had been watching movies at Phoenix since he was a little boy.

"My Dad saw movies there when he was a young man before me, and we’ve watched many films at The Phoenix with our own kids," he said, "We recognise what the cinema means to Dingle". "We want to open the doors again, expand the creative potential of the site, re-establishing its place in the cultural fabric of this unique town," McGuinness added.

The historic facility is located in the city center and is the only cinema on the Dingle Peninsula, as the nearest multiplex is 48 km away. After devastating fires in 1921 and 1938, the cinema was reconstructed twice. The current name, art deco facade and floor mosaic depicting a phoenix were added during the second renovation.

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