Theaters are adding more security ahead of the opening of 'Straight Outta Compton'

Universal Pictures has offered to reimburse theaters that are adding extra security guards ahead of the opening of the biopic, "Straight Outta Compton," The Wall Street Journal reports.

The film, which opens nationwide Friday, profiles the birth of the legendary rap group, N.W.A, and its founding role in modern-day hip-hop.

It also documents life in South Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, a tumultuous time when racial tensions between the community and the Los Angeles Police Department were brimming. Trust was in short supply, and violence - both from gangs and abject police brutality - was boiling over.

The Journal cites the 2012 theater shooting in Aurora, CO and another fatal shooting in Louisiana during a showing of "Trainwreck" last month as an impetus for the added security.

Not every theater operator is convinced the increased vigilance is necessary: "We're doing it for the public's peace of mind," Cinetopia Theater chain operator Rudyard Coltman told The Journal.

Theaters paying for more patrols have to get the costs approved by Universal first, The Journal reported.