A Minecraft Movie has been splashing the cash on its branded tie-ins, with everything from Oreos to Doritos getting in on the action. However, A Minecraft Movie‘s collaboration with McDonald’s has by far drawn the most attention online, and it’s not the first time the fast-food icon has boosted a major videogame franchise.
Despite a history with too many controversies to count, McDonald’s remains an untouchable juggernaut in the fast food area. Though the company has pivoted towards a more adult-oriented strategy in recent years, its Happy Meal remains popular with kids—and the amount of videogame tie-ins taking place through the meal has only ramped up. McDonald’s collaboration with A Minecraft Movie has caused a particular stir recently, in no small part due to the uncanny translation of characters like Grimace into the film’s aesthetic. Nonetheless, this isn’t the first time the fast-food eatery has used its weight to massively promote a videogame IP.
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A Quick History of McDonald’s Videogame Tie-Ins
All McDonald’s (USA) Videogame Collaborations
- Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Game) (1994)
- Tiger Electronics (2001)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2003)
- Sega (2004)
- Crash Bandicoot and Spyro (2005)
- LEGO Batman: The Video Game (2008)
- Pokemon Black and White (2011)
- Skylanders: Giants (2013)
- Skylanders: Swap Force (2014)
- Skylanders: Trap Team (2015)
- Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (2015)
- The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
- Super Mario (2017)
- Pokémon Sun and Moon (2018)
- Super Mario (2018)
- Pokémon 25th Anniversary (2021)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
- Pokémon Match Battle (2022)
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2022/2023)
- Pokémon Match Battle (2023)
- MultiVersus (2024)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Film) (2025)
- Pokémon (2025)
- A Minecraft Movie (2025)
The above list represents McDonald’s US collaborations (many of which have also taken place internationally). However, despite McDonalds emphasizing homogeneity among its franchisees, there is a great deal of regional variance internationally, such as the different McDonald’s Mario tie-ins, including Mario Kart figurines in Canada, Australia, and Europe, as well as character statuettes in China.
Sonic and Mario Have Been Consistent Partners
Super Mario Bros. 3 was the first videogame collaboration the company took on, with four Happy Meal toys to collect (Mario, Luigi, Goomba, and Paratroopa). The 2017 collaboration, which didn’t set out to promote anything in particular, had more toys to its name; joining Mario and Luigi were figures of Bowser, Yoshi, Piranha Plant, Invincible Mario, Koopa Shell, and a facade of the floating Question Mark block. 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie crossover was a bigger campaign, with toys of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Toad, Luma, and Donkey Kong.
McDonald’s Sonic the Hedgehog collaborations also have a long history. The original 1994 Happy Meal set had Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik figures, along with a Sonic-branded ball. 2003 and 2004 saw Sega team up with McDonald’s to deliver Fisher Price handheld games, many of which were explicitly Sonic-themed. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 saw a variety of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails standees, in addition to an Eggman Robot standee. Most recently, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 delivered Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Super Sonic, and Super Shadow figurines encased in plastic ‘rollers’.
Pokemon Has Ramped Up McDonald’s Tie-Ins
A huge variety of Pokemon crossovers have taken place through McDonald’s, though none have been as famous (or as infamous) as many of Burger King’s Pokemon collaborations. 2011 saw 8 toys, rolling out Pikachu, Reshiram, Oshawott, Zoroark, Tepig, Zekrom, Snivy, and Zorua. Ruby and Sapphire had its figures (Pikachu, Groudon, Kyogre, Lugia, Rayquaza, Mega Latios, Hoopa, Wobbuffet) accompanied by respective TCG cards, giving collectors more of an interest in these Happy Meals.
Pokemon TCG cards are a mainstay at McDonald’s. 2018 saw toys of Dialga, Palkia, Latias, Latios, Reshiram, Zekrom, Thundurus, Tornadus, along with different TCG cards—a trend other promotions have followed. The most recent promotion, which took place in February of this year, was the inclusion of TCG booster packs in Happy Meals.
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Individual and Shorter-Running McDonald’s Tie-Ins
Skylanders, Spyro, and LEGO
Among the other big promotions between videogames and McDonald’s were the Crash and Spyro tie-ins, which naturally led to collaborations with the Skylanders series. Similar to the Sonic Fisher Price games, Spyro and Crash saw their own handheld games in booklet-shaped plastic. Spyro, Tree Rex, Jet-Vac, Ignitor, Drobot, Gill Grunt, Chop-Chop, Crusher, and Kaos toys were released to coincide with Skylanders: Giants, which was followed by a Skylanders: Swap-Force crossover that included figures of Chompy, Magna Charge, Wash Buckler, Freeze Blade, Prism Break, Eruptor, Free Ranger, and Rattle Shake. Finally, a Trap Team promotion saw figures of Food Fight, Wolfgang, Snap Shot, Wildfire, Wallop, and Pain-Yatta.
Despite a storied history of videogames (as well as of McDonald’s tie-ins), LEGO Batman: The Videogame is currently the only LEGO game to have a McDonald’s crossover. The tie-in also deviated from previous LEGO McDonald’s items, such as the Bionicle Matoran polybags of 2001, as these statuettes were plastic toys entirely separate from the LEGO system (similar to the Galidor polybags of years prior). These included figures of Batman, Robin, Mr. Freeze, the Joker, Penguin’s Sub, the Batmobile, Joker’s helicopter, and the Batboat.
A Minecraft Movie
A Minecraft Movie‘s McDonald’s crossover is a big one, with the fast-food giant ushering in temporary changes to its iconography on some packaging to align with the film. It’s easy to see how hard the film is being pushed with this tie-in, and a selection of Happy Meal toys are there to back up the initiative. In addition to an ‘adult’ Happy Meal option, tied in with a limited Nether Flame sauce, the tie-in includes six collectibles (Grimace Egg, Soda Potion, Birdie Wings, Fry Helmet, Zombie Hamburglar, and Big Mac Crystal), as well as 11 figures (Evoker, Llama, Skeleton, Pink Sheep, Pink Wool and Pink Sheep, Creeper, Garrett, Dawn, Steve, Wolf, Redstone and Creeper, and Bee)
- Release Date
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April 4, 2025
- Runtime
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101 minutes
- Director
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Jared Hess
- Writers
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Chris Galletta, Gavin James, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Allison Schroeder, Chris Bowman
- Producers
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Jason Momoa, Jill Messick, Mary Parent, Roy Lee, Todd Hallowell, Cale Boyter, Jon Berg, Jon Spaihts, Brian Andrew Mendoza, Vu Bui, Lydia Winters
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Jason Momoa
Garrett Garrison
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