Franchises

Restaurant owners are pushing back on McDonald ’s Corp.’s moves to tighten franchise standards and rules, increasing tension between the burger giant and operators who run the bulk of its U.S. locations.  Some franchisees are backing legislation that they say would give them more control over how they run their businesses and how they sell them, following moves by McDonald’s in recent months to more strictly review its franchisees’ operations.  Restaurant owners are pushing back on…

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. agreed to pay almost $800 million for the company behind the “Angry Birds” franchise, a deal that would end the independence of one of the pioneers of the mobile-gaming industry. The transaction is the latest consolidation move in the broader gaming industry. Games played mostly on phones boomed during the pandemic but sales have ebbed more recently. Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. agreed to pay almost $800 million for the company behind the “Angry Birds”…

The MCU has been confounding and surprising audiences ever since Iron Man. For the most part, the 2008 movie stuck fairly close to Tony Stark’s comic-book origins, only to surprise audiences with a final scene in which the notion of a secret identity was tossed out of the window as Stark admitted “I am Iron Man”. Roll credits. But, as of late, the MCU has gotten a teeny bit too predictable. Even with the advent of the multiverse we haven’t gotten a huge surprise or twist in any recent movies. Maybe the dusty old…

Ahead of its April 19th release date, Sony and Guerrilla Games on Friday shared a new trailer for Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores. The DLC is set to tell the next chapter of Aloy’s story. The trailer offers a fresh look at the Burning Shores, a volcanic archipelago that was once home to Los Angeles. We also get a closer look at the Metal Devil boss fight that was teased at the end of the announcement trailer Sony and Guerrilla . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cxk6_L6jnw That battle is one of the reasons Horizon…

via 20th Century Fox Hollywood isn’t a place where anyone learns from their mistakes on a regular basis, so the news that Legendary has acquired the rights to Street Fighter on film and television and started work on another reboot isn’t some groundbreaking revelation that nobody could have seen coming. After all, the video game genre is arguably in ruder health than it’s ever been thanks to critical and commercial success stories like The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Sonic the Hedgehog, while The Super Mario…

Image via Universal / Blumhouse With a genre as widespread and explosive as horror, an impending debate over which franchise is the most successful is bound to happen. And while the spooktacular catalog is crawling with a broad range of intriguing series, there’s perhaps no other commodities greater than both the Halloween and Scream franchises. Individually birthed by two of the greatest filmmakers —John Carpenter and Wes Craven — the debate between these two products has long plagued the genre ever since each…

Theoretical framework. Credit: Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s11747-022-00921-3 If you've stayed at a brand-name hotel or eaten at a fast food restaurant recently, it's more likely than not that you've supported a franchised company. Franchising is a distribution strategy where a larger company, the franchisor, licenses the rights to its brand, products, and procedures to a smaller…

Image via Paramount Plus We live in an age of reboots and revivals, but as much as it is often thrilling to revisit old favorites and see the next chapters in beloved characters’ lives, sometimes a project will come along that is so universally hated by its respective fandom that it reminds us that not every franchise needs to be brought back past its natural lifespan. Unfortunately, such was the case with Paramount Plus’ recent Teen Wolf: The Movie. A continuation of the popular high school horror-infused…

via Gaumont International Television It’s a general rule of thumb that any fantasy franchise spanning decades and countless iterations is going to tie itself in canonical knots to the point of nonsense, but there are few more convoluted than Highlander, which is ironic when the whole property revolves around there only being one. Since kicking off with the stone-cold cult classic sword-swinging slice of cheese back in 1986, the expanded universe has swelled to gargantuan proportions. Even if we don’t include…

Photo via Paramount Pictures Welcome back to another Terrifying Tuesday, spooky supporters! The past week has undoubtedly been a thrilling ride for the widespread genre. Without question, the main focus has been on Scream VI — which absolutely electrified the box office just two weeks ago. Fast-forward to now and there’re plenty of goodies to be explored in today’s daily horror roundup here at We Got This Covered. From Scream VI’s golden opportunity to become the greatest entry in the franchise to Jordan Peele…