Madstone Theaters/ Sunrise Cinemas
For film lovers, the biggest and saddest news of the year was the closing of Madstone Theaters. Just seven months after opening its much-ballyhooed Tampa location, Madstone closed up shop, officially ending the most ambitious and promising cinematic experiment the Bay area has ever taken part in. Madstone was a film buff´s dream, a comfortable, inviting space dedicated to presenting the most interesting films and film-related events possible. The theater made its share of mistakes during its short run, but general manager Margaret Murray was there to hold it all together, overseeing an intriguing selection of independent, foreign and classic art films mixed with a smattering of high-profile (and, whenever possible, high-quality) Hollywood product. Madstone´s failure is heartbreaking, for sure, but there´s a bright spot to this story. The theater had barely gone dark when a small, like-minded outfit called Sunrise Cinemas took it over, resuscitating the Tampa location even as the handful of other Madstone locations around the country remained shuttered. (And yes, believe it or not, the Tampa Bay community´s response to the great Madstone experiment turned out to be one of the most positive in the country, putting to shame other, supposedly more cosmopolitan areas like Atlanta and Denver.) The name and the owners are different now, but the emphasis on great films will officially remain, former manager and all-around movie maven Margaret Murray will stay on board, and most signs are pointing to good things ahead for film buffs. In any event, Madstone is gone, but Sunrise Cinemas has emerged phoenix-like from its ashes, and all we can do now is take a deep breath and hope for the best.
Sunrise Cinemas, 1609 W. Swann Ave., Tampa, 813-258-4646.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.