Movie And T.V Themed Food Menus

 When I was growing up, I remember seeing a commercial, a Whopper at Burger King with four meat patties being held by Peter Jackson's version of King Kong. As a child I saw a product used to promote a movie while being made to tie into it. As a child toys, videogames, clothes and so much more was tied to movies, but as of late I have had a fascination with limited time, special menu items at fast food and even dine in restaurants, even though I have not participated in any of them, or at least have no memory of doing so.

I do count Happy Meals because the toy is themed and changes over time, and even the box that presents them can change as well, but the food being served does not. Today I am talking about food items, from fries, to drinks, sandwiches and more. For example, the meals for How To Train Your Dragon, Across The Spiderverse at Burger King, sometimes even for properties that do not have a movie on the big screen like the SpongeBob meal. Sometimes it isn't even a show or movie, it could be a band such as the BTS Meal at McDonalds.

These meals usually involve a one of a kind item, such as a dessert or a special sandwich, different packaging that sometimes just is used for the whole restaurant and can double as advertising for the meal, and run for a limited time only. It intrigues me and always makes me curious when one of these meals is shown off on social media, but I have yet to have one. I wanted to try the Good Burger meal at Arby's but never got around to it, the SpongeBob meal and Spiderverse red Whopper I thought about, but I ten out of ten times just watch a youtuber review the food.

I love watching food videos and reviews on YouTube and have even written about it on this blog, and if I see someone else trying the food of an Addams Family themed Burger King menu, that is less money out of my pocket. I am sure to try one of these specialty meals someday, it has even spread to sit down, dine-in eateries with IHOP having menus for both Sonic and XBOX, or the Garfield menu at Olive Garden. I love watching videos of people trying these food items and it is so fun to hear their jokes or commentary on the food items shown. 

This has become so common now, it used to be just themed toys in kids meals, which I had plenty of throughout the years, but now it seems that market is aiming for adults as well. These are not tied to a movie or a major IP but the adult happy meals or the recent McDonald Land meals that had either a nostalgic collectable or special item like a milkshake are becoming more common as well. It seems now that if a show is big, or there is a major upcoming movie, there is a chance of a purple whopper showing up, or a nugget meal coming with a wacky new sauce. This is just now a part of advertising the movie to something we all enjoy from time to time, eating out. I did not try the Toothless Whopper for How To Train Your Dragon but I did get bags advertising them, I have the Spiderverse themed Burger King crown that was in the establishment around the time of the meal. 

Much like the new crazy of popcorn buckets that are more then just buckets, advertising now spreads beyond the trailers we watch online. As adults there are items such as movie themed body washes, popcorn buckets that we can take back on our next trip to the cinema, or this case food. As kids it was toys or cereal, sometimes snacks, but as we grow up movies and shows are still advertised to us, just in different forms. 

At the end of the day this is overall harmless, we all have the choice to not eat these meals if we choose not to, the places that serve them still have their regular menus.  I think these can be fun, if not at times baffling. They could make for a fun video to watch or conversation to have, even something to try. I had friends who tried the Good Burger Meal from Arby's and enjoyed it, so sometimes the food fits the theme and can be fun. I LOVED the Glinda drink that was made for Wicked and am hoping it comes back for the sequel. Advertising always finds a way to remind us of a product, a game, a show, a movie. But sometimes it can be fun, or in this case, delicious.