LOS ANGELES —  Michael Jackson fans who were unable to secure tickets to his memorial service where able to watch the event live at their local movie theaters.

Digital events company Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp.  arranged to broadcast the memorial live at 88 movie theaters in 31 states , which allowed approximately 17,000 people to watch the service on the big screen, the Los Angeles Times reported on the Monday.

"This gives Michael Jackson's fans a chance to view the memorial in a communal setting with other like-minded folks and celebrate his life together," Jonathan Dern, president of Cinedigm's entertainment group, told the Times.

RELATED: List of Theaters Showing the Michael Jackson Tribute.

The company, which specializes in airing live sporting events and concerts at theaters, reached out to AEG, the production company in charge of Jackson's comeback tour, and closed a deal late Sunday night, the newspaper reported.

Tickets to the broadcasts where provided on a first come, first serve basis and where  free of charge. ."There is a possibility to be completely overwhelmed or the possibility that people may just not be aware that they could come to the theatre," Aaron Smith, Manager of Showplace East 18 in Evansville, Indiana, told FOXNews.com

For the most part, cinema managers don’t seem to be anticipating mobs of fans due to the lack of advertising for the last-minute event.

"Security will probably not be increased. We’re not expecting anything crazy," Morgan Cox, the assistant manager of Marquee Wakefield 12 in Raleigh, North Carolina said while Natalie Wright, Manager of Marquee Southpoint 9 in Fredericksburg, Virginia added that they didn’t feel increased security measures were in any way necessary.

"I would assume it won’t be that big considering we haven’t had any broadcasting or radio or TV advertising, we just found out today at 5pm," she said.