Burger King Russia wants to get the movie IT banned across the country because it says the horror movie is free advertising for its fast food rival, McDonald's, since, you know, clowns.
According to Hollywood Reporter, the Russian arm of Burger King filed a complaint last week with the Russian anti-monopoly board, arguing that Pennywise—IT's evil, child-slaughtering clown demon from another dimension—is an "exact copy" of burger-shilling clown mascot Ronald McDonald.
Apparently, Burger King is afraid that audiences will watch an evil clown terrorize a bunch of children for two hours and get inspired to give their business to another similarly red-haired clown. It's basically the opposite argument that all those hard-working clowns made when they feared that IT would wreck their birthday party business, but whatever.
The complaint, which was obtained by Russian financial site Vedomosti, alleges that IT breaks Russian advertising laws with the pseudo-Ronald McDonald villain and that Pennywise is basically identical to the McDonald's mascot down to the "color range" and "the [balloons] with which the clown lures children."
Sure, Pennywise shares a passing resemblance to Ronald, but so do pretty much all other clowns. Maybe if Pennywise tried to lure Georgie down into the sewer with the promise of a ball pit and a Big Mac, BK Russia might have a case.
A spokesperson for the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service told the Reporter that they received the complaint and are currently looking into whether the movie contained advertising or product placement for McDonald's. In the meantime, IT is playing in over 100 screens across Russia and has already pulled in around $14 million in ticket sales, the Reporter says. There's also going to be an ITsequel, slated for a late summer 2019 release, whether Burger King likes it or not.
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