AMC Reverses Itself and Will Require Masks

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, retweeted a message from Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Thursday evening stating that Californians were required to wear masks in public. The tweet also said: “The science is unanimous — if we all wear masks, we slow down the spread and can reopen safely. It’s not a political issue. Anyone making it a political issue is an absolute moron who can’t read.”

AMC said Thursday that it would open about 450 of its United States theaters on July 15, with auditorium capacity capped at 30 percent (or less, where mandated by local health officials). Another 150 locations will reopen by July 24 to coincide with the release of Disney’s live-action “Mulan,” the first big-budget movie scheduled to come out of Hollywood since March.

Mr. Aron said in the Variety interview that AMC had chosen not to rush to reopen.

“There were some jurisdictions in some states, such as Georgia and Texas, that allowed people to reopen theaters in mid-May,” he said. “We opted to remain closed, so we could give the country time to get a better handle on coronavirus.”

Christine Hauser, Mihir Zaveri, Gillian Friedman, Neil Vigdor and Brooks Barnes contributed reporting.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/business/AMC-theaters-masks-coronavirus.html