Family-owned Italian quick-serve Sbarro, Inc., announced yesterday a plan to sell its pizza through restaurants in theater complexes owned by National Amusements, Inc.

The agreement between the 996-unit restaurant company and the 1,381-screen motion-picture exhibitor calls for Sbarro restaurants in seven National Amusements’ complexes initially, with twelve more to follow by the end of 2003.

Gennaro Sbarro, president of franchising/licensing for Sbarro, said, “We’re proud to be part of the ground-breaking efforts of National Amusements to transform the movie-going experience. This agreement allows us to expand rapidly in a key sector of the entertainment market. Along with our already strong presence in malls, travel facilities and other non-traditional venues, it furthers our strategy of serving our customers as they go about their daily activities such as shopping, traveling or taking in a show.”

Before undertaking the agreement, Sbarro and National Amusements ran focus groups and interviewed moviegoers to evaluate the appeal of theatre-linked Italian quick food. The results convinced the partners that they had a winning concept.

“We are always looking to build on the movie-going experience and continually offer our patrons new and exciting things within our theatres,” noted Shari E. Redstone, president of National Amusements. “This partnership with Sbarro’s has been terrific from the start — their team has been wonderful to work with, patron feedback has been tremendous, and pizza sales in our theatres have exceeded our highest expectations.”