LIVE EVENTS PULLING IN BIG CROWDS AT U.K. THEATERS

Vue Entertainment, Britain’s second-largest theater chain, reported that the number of people attending “event” screenings rose 50 percent in 2013. It added that it expects the number for plays, operas, ballets, concerts, and sports will double this year. Vue CEO Tim Richards told Britain’s Screen Daily that the theater chain had “invested heavily” in 83 theaters in the U.K. to provide the screenings — many of them live — which are generally distributed by satellite. He said that the most successful event offered by the chain was a one-night screening of the 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who last November, which raked in $2.3 million despite being simultaneously broadcast for free on the BBC. (Beamed to 94 countries, the production brought in $10 million worldwide on the same night.) The National Theatre’s production of War Horse is due to be screened live tonight (Thursday). It is being shown on a “captured live” basis — that is, recorded earlier in the day and screened at a more convenient time — in the U.S.