McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation Type Fast food chain, real estate company Status Active Led by Enrique Hernandez Jr. (chairman) Chris Kempczinski (president and CEO) Founder(s) Richard McDonald Maurice McDonald Ray Kroc Founded May 15, 1940 Head- quarters Chicago, Illinois, United States Website https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us.html

McDonald's is an American-based global chain of fast food restaurants headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Founded as a restaurant by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California in 1940, the company became a hamburger stand and later a franchise before being bought out by businessman Ray Kroc in 1955. McDonald's is the largest fast food restaurant chain in the world, serving an estimated 65 million customers daily across more than 100 countries. It is also a real estate company through its ownership of much of the restaurant buildings and underlying land which it leases to its individual franchisees.

McDonald's has a large presence in Japan through its local arm McDonald's Company (Japan), Ltd. (日本マクドナルド株式会社,   Nihon Makudonarudo Kabushikigaisha, lit. "Japan McDonald Company, Ltd."). McDonald's operates approximately 2,900 stores in Japan as of 2018, the most of any country behind only the United States and China. It is colloquially known as Mac (マック,   Makku) or McDo (マクド,   Makudo) among Japanese consumers, and maintains its headquarters in the Shinjuku Island Tower in Tokyo. McDonald's Japan has collaborated with both the Ultra Series and Godzilla franchises through menu and merchandising items.

Collaborations

Ultraman

Ultraman first appeared in a Happy Meal at McDonald's Japan in 2013. This consisted of four toys (Ultraman, Ultraman Ginga, Gomora and Alien Baltan) and a promotional DVD featuring a recap of Ultraman Ginga and an episode of Mega Monster Rush Ultimate Frontier. This would be followed by an Ultraman Ginga S Happy Meal toyline in 2014 featuring eight toys (Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Ginga, Zetton, King Joe, Golza and Dark Lugiel) and a 2021 toyline featuring puzzle activity toys based on various Ultra heroes.

In April of 2022, McDonald's Japan introduced two menu items to promote the upcoming release of the film Shin Ultraman. These items consisted of Ultraman Jack and Ultraman-themed chicken sandwiches.

Godzilla vs. McDonald

In December of 2023, McDonald's launched Godzilla vs. McDonald (ゴジラVSマクドナルド,   Gojira tai Makudonarudo), a collaboration with the Godzilla franchise to commemorate its pending 70th anniversary in 2024. It began lottery distribution of Be@rbrick figures of Godzilla and the McDonaldland characters Birdie the Early Bird, Grimace, and the Hamburglar. Additionally, on January 5, 2024, McDonald's will begin offering three Godzilla Burgers called the Delicious Spicy Thick-Cut Beef and Rough-Chopped Potato; Smokey Pepper Chicken; and Cheese Double Teriyaki. The commercials for the campaign are based heavily on the Heisei series, featuring a replica Heisei Godzilla suit, appearances by the Cosmos, and a McDonald's-themed mecha housed in a G-Force-styled hangar.

Gallery

Concept art

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  McDonald's mecha concept art by Shinji Nishikawa

Promotional

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Official Japanese site

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Miscellaneous

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Commercials

Return of Ultraman/Shin Ultraman commercial Be@rbrick commercial Smokey Pepper Chicken spot Godzilla vs. McDonald burgers

Trivia

• The Godzilla vs. McDonald logo is based on that of the 1991 film Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, with "McDonald" spelled in the same color and font as King Ghidorah's name.
• The McDonald's mecha featured in the Godzilla vs. McDonald commercials was designed by Shinji Nishikawa, a longtime monster designer on the Heisei and Millennium Godzilla films. Nishikawa stated that he incorporated aspects of various Toho mechas into the robot's design.

References

This is a list of references for McDonald's. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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