Franchises

Minions—the babbling, yellow, goggle-eyed stars of the “Despicable Me” animated movie franchise—have a history of rallying together to follow their hapless leaders. This weekend, it was kids and their parents who got in line, and in droves.Illumination Entertainment’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” blew away initial box-office expectations to gross $108.5 million domestically in the strongest opening weekend for an animated feature film since before the pandemic, a heartening sign for Hollywood studios that had been unsure…

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via Paramount Don’t let the box office numbers fool you; even the most successful and reliably popular franchises in the industry could do with an update, a fresh coat of paint, or a brand new creative perspective. All you need to do is ask people for their opinions on the most recent batch of Star Wars films, the entirety of the DCEU, or the ongoing adventures of Transformers to find that out. At the top of the pile, you could make the argument that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is leading the way in terms of…

Kohl’s called off talks over its $8 billion sale to Franchise Group amid rising interest rates and an uncertain retail environment.The department-store chain on Friday said that it would no longer pursue a sales process and will instead focus on navigating current conditions on its own. Kohl’s called off talks over its $8 billion sale to Franchise Groupamid rising interest rates and an uncertain retail environment.The department-store chain on Friday said that it would no longer pursue a sales process and will…

McDonald’s unveiled a series of management changes that includes new financial and supply-chain chiefs.The fast-food giant said Kevin Ozan, who has been chief financial officer since March 2015, will take on the new post of senior executive vice president of strategic initiatives, while Francesca DeBiase is retiring as global chief supply-chain officer. McDonald’s unveiled a series of management changes that includes new financial and supply-chain chiefs.The fast-food giant said Kevin Ozan, who has been chief financial…

McDonald’s MCD 0.21% Corp. is planning to make some of the biggest changes in decades to the franchising system that underpins its U.S. operations, as it seeks to reinvigorate its base of restaurant owners. Executives this week notified the burger chain’s franchisees that they will have to go through a more stringent review every 20 years to keep their restaurants, according to an email to franchisees viewed by The Wall Street Journal. McDonald’s will consider new…

The best known line of dialogue from Toy Story – the best known line from any Pixar film, in fact – is Buzz Lightyear’s gloriously nonsensical catchphrase, “To infinity – and beyond!” It’s hardly surprising, then, that he says it once every 15 minutes in Lightyear, the new Pixar cartoon which is, supposedly, the sci-fi blockbuster which prompted Andy’s mother to buy him a Buzz action figure back in 1995. What is surprising is that Buzz’s exploits in the film are the exact opposite of what that catchphrase implies. He…

LOS ANGELES—Dinosaurs, fighter pilots and superheroes joined forces to give Hollywood perhaps its most promising box-office weekend this year, with “Jurassic World Dominion” delivering the third $100 million-plus opening in six weeks. The third installment of the revived dinosaur franchise, “Jurassic World Dominion” collected an estimated $143 million in the U.S. and Canada. The weekend marked a low for the franchise, but is a robust contribution to theater owners following the Memorial…

Kohl’s Corp. KSS 2.30% beat back activists and is in talks to be sold for around $8 billion. But its suitor could bring a new set of challenges for the department-store chain. There are no guarantees the two sides will reach a deal. Franchise Group, which mainly owns franchise businesses, is smaller than Kohl’s with a market capitalization of about $1.5 billion. The deal structure that Franchise Group is proposing—selling real estate and adding on debt—has…

Kohl’s Corp. is in advanced talks to be sold in a deal that could value the department-store chain at roughly $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The Wisconsin company recently entered exclusive talks with retail holding company Franchise Group Inc., the people said. The exclusivity period is expected to last for several weeks, so a deal isn’t imminent, and there still may not be one.…