Madstone -- a family of entertainment companies launched during the heady days of the dot-com boom -- officially shut its doors Monday, closing down its movie theater division after already ceasing operation of its film division and its digital distribution network. The New York-based company, founded in 2000 by Goldman Sachs partner Chip Seelig and former PolyGram Filmed Entertainment distribution exec Tom Gruenberg, said Monday that its leased theaters in Albuquerque, N.M., Cary, N.C., Tampa, Fla., Salt Lake City, Denver, San Diego and Baltimore will no longer operate. New management is expected to take over operation of the art house theaters in Cary, San Diego and Tampa. Madstone's other theaters in Atlanta, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Chandler, Ariz., were shuttered June 1. According to a statement from Madstone, "The company was not able to achieve its business goals."...
TORONTO -- Plum Pictures, the fledgling New York production shingle headed by the trio of Galt Niederhoffer, Celine Rattray and Daniela Soto-Taplin, has partnered with Madstone Films to search out first-time directors and projects for the company's directors program. As part of the pact, Plum will move into Madstone's offices in Manhattan. Madstone launched the directors program two years ago, and the first film to come out of the program, Aaron Woodley's Rhinoceros Eyes, is screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. The directors program is overseen by Madstone co-CEO and co-founder Tom Gruenberg. Plum currently is developing The Michael Pellegrino Project, to be penned by James Manos Jr., and The Angelo Brooks Story, which the company optioned from a 60 Minutes piece about a cop who forms a debate team of inner-city youth. The company recently acquired film rights to Edmund Morris' book The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, as well as the novel Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid. Plum also will continue to develop projects outside of Madstone.
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