New York City Mayor Andrew Yang hit the AMC Empire in Times Square on Friday morning, buying night tickets for Eddie Huang’s Boogie and talking to a small press group while cinemas around the city opened for the first time since last March.
“It is a film that takes place in New York and the filmmaker is Asian American and now it seems that it is time to support Asian Americans. I also have a sense of how difficult the cinema business is, ”he said. “So, supporting New York and an independent film that has very New York roots makes me very happy.”
“I think the reopening of cinemas is a very powerful sign that we can do things that we used to do before Covid,” said Yang, who also ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.
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Yang offered that he is an AMC Stubs member – the network’s frequent moviegoer pass. “Few things have given me more pleasure and joy than getting free popcorn after watching enough movies and accumulating enough points.”
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Someone who’s not running to the big screen – the current mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio. “The jury has decided on this,” he told WNYC public radio presenter Brian Lehrer today, citing the increase in Covid variants. Asked if he would go to the cinema or if his children would feel comfortable, he refused to answer directly. “I have a wait-and-see approach to the question of how much things are being expanded,” he said. “We will be watching the variants very closely.”
Reopening decisions are the state’s. Governor Andrew Cuomo gave theaters the green light on February 22 with 25% capacity, or a maximum of 50 people per show.
Attendance was sparse at noon, but, judging by the availability of seats online, it is expected to increase tonight and over the weekend. Steve Sanchez, a Queens teacher, just came out of an afternoon show of Tom Jerryat the AMC Empire I was happy to be back and felt safe.
“With all the social distance, there are enough seats for everyone and there is not much to worry about from that point of view,” he said. There were four or five others on your show. He’s looking forward to going back to Warner Bros Mortal combat in mid-April “and the biggest items coming out.”
Joshua Juneau from Manhattan, emerging from AMC Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side, liked it very much Raya and the Last Dragon. “You wear a mask, everyone is lost.” There were 15 people in the theater. He looks forward to In The Heights, the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical in June. He plans to come often. He saw his first film since Covid, two months ago, but in Florida. “And Florida and that are very different.”