AMC won't require face masks when theaters reopen to avoid 'political controversy'

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• AMC Theatres, which has more than 600 locations in the US, won't require customers to wear face masks when it reopens this summer. However, masks will be available for $1 and mandated for employees.
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• Competitors Cinemark and Regal are also making masks voluntary in areas where they are not already required.
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• "We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy," CEO Adam Aron told Variety. "We thought it might be counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe strongly that it is not necessary."
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AMC Theatres won't require customers to wear face masks when it reopens this summer, CEO and President Adam Aron said in an interview with Variety.

"We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy," Aron told the magazine. "We thought it might be counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe strongly that it is not necessary."

AMC, which operates more than 600 theaters across the United States, plans to begin reopening on July 15. It joins competitors Cinemark and Regal in encouraging masks, Variety reported, but not mandating them - at least in jurisdictions where they are not already required.

"We think that the vast majority of AMC guests will be wearing masks," Aron said. "When I go to an AMC feature, I will certainly be wearing a mask and leading by example."

Masks will also be available for $1.

Indoor environments, particularly those with air conditioning, are considered high-risk environments for the transmission of the coronavirus. With indoor theaters still closed in most states, many have turned to drive-in theaters, which have proliferated in the age of COVID-19.

Mask-wearing, though proven to be effective in containing the spread of COVID-19, has been politicized. President Donald Trump has resisted wearing a mask in public and told The Wall Street Journal this week that he thought that people were wearing masks to show they disapprove of him - not as a safety measure.