Did McDonald's bankroll The Founder?

Did McDonald's bankroll The Founder? - Man Wearing Brown Leather Jacket Holding Black Android Smartphone With Brown Case

I'm wondering what level of involvement McDonald's had in this film. I reckon if developers of the film were looking for investors, McDonald's would have been able to pay for the whole project in a second.



Best Answer

No, they didn't.

According to IMDB, Wikipedia and other industry sources, the funding for "The Founder" came from two sources; Don Hanfield (through his company The Combine) and matched funding from FilmNation Entertainment, using money from Roadshow Films.

None of these funding sources seem to be owned by or affiliated to McDonalds, nor does there appear to have been any direct involvement between McDonalds and the filmmakers in terms of assistance with filming, archive footage or locations, which the makers had to build from scratch.


In a Q&A with a rep from FilmNation, she explictly stated that McDonalds, though unwilling to help, were at least willing to not hinder

Q. THR [The Hollywood Reporter] has reported that McDonald’s won’t try to block the biopic, even though it doesn’t paint the most flattering picture of Ray Kroc.

Tara Erer: Several buyers have already told me that helps. No one wants a legal battle.




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Did McDonalds fund The Founder?

No, they didn't. According to IMDB, Wikipedia and other industry sources, the funding for "The Founder" came from two sources; Don Hanfield (through his company The Combine) and matched funding from FilmNation Entertainment, using money from Roadshow Films.

Was The Founder a flop?

It was also a box office flop, generating just $3.4 million from 1,115 theaters during its eleventh-place opening weekend (The Los Angeles Times wrote that TWC paid a reported $7 million for distribution rights, anticipating a $5 million to $10 million opening weekend).

What was the mistake the McDonald brothers made?

If anything, the McDonald brothers just made a classic business mistake: cashing out too soon. It seems that the McDonald brothers were financially successful even before they met Kroc. In 1954, their single restaurant in San Bernardino netted them $100,000, or $900,000 in today's dollars.

Did Ray Kroc buy McDonalds?

Kroc purchased the company outright in 1961, and his strict operational guidelines helped transform McDonald's into the world's largest restaurant franchise before his death in 1984, at the age of 81.



McDonalds - Animated History




Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Enoch Patro, Tirachard Kumtanom, Eduardo Jorge Machado, Pixabay