The Founder tells the story of Ray Kroc, an American entrepreneur who would not discover the success he dreamed of until his 50s. It was then that he encountered the first McDonald’s, a bustling enterprise in San Bernadino, and worked with the owners to franchise the concept across America and then the world. Eventually, he took over the entire corporation, forcing the original creators out and making himself one of the richest and cementing his legacy in American business and culture. It’s a fascinating tale and one that The Founder tells with stunning style and purpose.
While The Founder may not have been a big hit upon its opening weekend, it’s not for a lack of talent or effort. Unfortunately, it appears to have been a victim of studio mismanagement and poor timing. What should have been an Oscar contender has been left to wallow in January. It may still have more to give than a chance for all of us to catch a great, underappreciated flick this weekend though. The Founder is a story of American business, big personalities, and “true”-ly legendary happenings. It also parralels the story of Marvel Comics in all of these aspects.
The Founder lays out a model for the telling of the Marvel story and shows how such a tale could be just as fascinating as the superhero stories they sell tickets to today. Here’s why some smart producers ought to be looking at this as an opportunity to tell the story behind the heroes.
A True American Story
Movies have been using the phrase “Base on a true story” for decades. It’s for a good reason too. We love to see stories about what can really be done or, at least, what seems possible. Whether it exposes the good or bad of humanity, “true” stories are easier to believe and accept than those filled with fantastic characters for many. The great thing about the story of early Marvel Comics is that just like the early expansion of McDonald’s, it’s a true story that’s 100% true.
Sean Howe’s history Marvel: The Untold Story has been praised both for its research and enthralling narrative. Every bit of the company’s history is packed with tantalizing anecdotes and drama, enough to form the foundation an entire television series. The early years are especially potent with events occurring on a monthly basis. It’s a story about people with big dreams, a company with a big future, and fictions that would encompass the world. And it’s all true.
Bigger Than Life Characters
The Founder wouldn’t work if it weren’t for the personality of Ray Kroc. Love him or hate him (and the film definitely leans towards the latter) he was able to fill an entire room with his charisma and ego. No matter how successful or influential a company may be, a story is only as interesting as its characters. The men and women who populated Marvel Comics in the 1960s were absolutely fascinating.
Everyone knows Stan Lee as the charming huckster and renowned writer of many Marvel creations, but he’s far from the only leading man in this story. Both Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were just as essential to the early success of Marvel Comics, if not more so, and came with their own big personalities. Kirby was a hard-working family man with a penchant for chomping cigars and thinking of so many ideas he could barely drive a car. Ditko was an eccentric objectivist who pulled ever deeper into his shell leading to bigger philosophical proclamations and conflicts with colleagues. Any one of these three men could be the star of a film, together they’re a trio that absolutely must be explored.
The Stuff of Legends
True events and big personalities aren’t enough to make a great film; there has to be something more. That’s something the story of Marvel Comics has though. The Founder isn’t just about the growth of McDonald’s, in fact it’s not really about that at all. It is a story about capitalism, innovation, and corruption. If you have a chance to see The Founder, you’ll notice parallels to many modern narratives in and out of business. What makes it a great film is that it’s about so much more than what’s in the synopsis.
That’s true to the founding of Marvel Comics and it’s explosive growth in the 1960s, as well. It was a time in which the rules surrounding intellectual property were vague and the company was just as likely to go under as survive for another year. Knowing the outcome doesn’t make those days any less treacherous or the coming conflicts any less disastrous. There are many parallels between those early days at Marvel and the same at McDonald’s. While some might seek to cast villains and heroes purely, the situations were complex and help expose the complexities found in creation, advancement, and success. Those ambiguities don’t just make for some good stories, they also make for the sort of legends that never grow stale.
Marvel: The Untold Story
No matter how The Founder fares in the weeks ahead (hopefully better once the word gets out), it does lay out a clear path to success for Marvel Comics to follow. Pitching the concept of “McDonald’s: The Movie” may not be easy, but the world has never been more interested in the heroes of Marvel Comics than they are today. There has been talk of a fictional film recasting Stan Lee as a superspy, but that’s so much less interesting than the real story behind the early days of this comics juggernaut.
All of the elements that make The Founder so compelling are easily found within the history of Marvel Comics, as well. A quick read of the early chapters in Marvel: The Untold Story make it clear just how much potential can be found in the lives of creators like Kirby, Ditko, and Lee. What they accomplished has continued to shake the comics medium, the superhero genre, and the American entertainment industry. People care about what they accomplished and the story of how they did it is every bit as fascinating. Yet for many that story remains untold; it’s about time that a studio changes that and gives these creators a fair shake in theaters right alongside the heroes they created.
Marvel has just released a new trailer hyping up the Inhumans vs. X-Men event series to their YouTube page off the heels of the release of issue #3.
The trailer gives a brief overview of the event with some animated scenes based on artwork from Aaron Kuder, Leinil Francis Yu, Kenneth Rocafort and Javier Garrón.
This new video summarizes some of the happenings that transpired, bringing these two factions of superhumans closer to their inevitable battle currently taking place.
Specifically, it highlights the X-Men’s destruction of one Terrigen Cloud, while also showing the murder of Cyclops at the hands of Black Bolt (however, readers of Death of X may recall that the event did not occur exactly as most people remember it, thanks to the machinations of Emma Frost.)
Issues #0 through #3 are currently out in stores and on digital storefronts, and Inhumans vs. X-Men #4 is set for release on February 8th.
(Photo: Leinil Francis Yu)
Inhumans vs. X-Men #4
Writer: Charles Soule, Jeff Lemire Penciller: Javier Garron Cover Artist: Leinil Francis Yu The young Inhumans devise a crazy plan to infiltrate Muir Island…The only thing standing in their way: the master of magnetism himself, MAGNETO. Meanwhile, Medusa and the other royals mount a desperate effort to escape from the mutants’ prison in Limbo…and an X-Man changes sides!!
Egmont will this year release four new Minecraft titles, created to replace the original ‘handbook’ series.
John Packard, publishing director for brands and licensing at Egmont Publishing, said: “We are tremendously excited to be launching the Minecraft Guides this spring as they represent a real landmark in our Minecraft publishing plans. These new titles will explore new topics in depth for players at different stages in their Minecraft journey [and] will form a key plank of our publishing for the next three years.”
Two books are scheduled for release on 1st June; Minecraft Guide to Creative (which is about building structures in the game) and Minecraft Guide to Exploration (which shows players how to defend themselves). The next two books, Minecraft Guide to Redstone (about engineering) and Minecraft Guide to the Nether and the End (about a new terrain in the game), will follow in September.
All four titles were created with input from Minecraft’s developer Mojang and will be released in hardback, priced at £9.99.
Egmont said there are also “further titles planned” for 2018 and 2019.
Minecraft is one of the most successful children’s publishing tie-ins of recent years. The series launched in 2013 with four handbooks: The Official Beginner’s Handbook, The Official Redstone Handbook, The Official Construction Handbook and The Official Combat Handbook. A fifth title, Blockopedia followed in December 2014.
By February last year had sold 620,152 copies for £2.96m to date, according to Nielsen BookScan, whilst Blockopedia had sold 187,070 copies for £2.86m.
According to Egmont, total sales of the game (across all editions) are in excess of 107 million units.
Minecraft is one of the most popular games ever made, and it appears to be just as beloved in classrooms as it is at home. Looking to continue that trend, Microsoft and Mojang have been working hard at further developing Minecraft Education Edition, and at the start of 2017, the two firms have announced that this version of the game has now hit 1.0.
Minecraft Education Edition is the same Minecraft world you know and love, but with specific features aimed at students and teachers. It has NPCs for tutorials, simple multiplayer server setup, camera and portfolio recording, in-game chalkboards and downloadable lesson plans for educators.
While all of those features have been present since the early days of Minecraft Education Edition in late 2016, now that it’s hit version 1.0, there are a number of new features to enjoy, too.
There is now a global pause button, which brings the whole world to a quick halt in order to give children a break, and which also lets the teacher control when and how the lesson ends. Text-to-speech and other accessibility features have also been added and they make it easier for those with disabilities to join in, too. A newly arranged UI makes interaction easier, and an increased world height to 256 means bigger and better projects.
Added features from the main game’s v1.0 update, like The End dimension, are now included and there are also igloos and polar bears in snowy biomes. To top it all off, there’s a new, streamlined uploading process with support for .mcworld files.
To continue encouraging teachers and educators around the world to use Minecraft Education Edition, Microsoft has also announced a new mentor system. This will see some 60 educators from 19 countries around the world posting blogs, lesson plans, live-streams and videos on a regular basis as part of a “Mentor of the Week” ongoing series.
Microsoft and Mojang aren’t stopping there though. They plan many more updates to the educational version of Minecraft throughout 2017, so keep your eyes peeled and make sure you know your granite from your redstone, as chances are your kids will be playing it before long, if they haven’t already.
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]
A festival celebrating one of the most successful video games will help North East parents to keep their youngsters safe online.
Nethermined – an unofficial event around the game Minecraft – will be held in Newcastle for the third time on Feb 11-12 at Northumbria University Students’ Union.
And along with giving fans of the game the opportunity to be involved in a wide range of activities including playing Minecraft, meeting some of the top YouTube gamers and taking part in workshops, special sessions have also been put in place for parents.
A special Parents Zone has been set up as part of this year’s event, where parents can get valuable tips about protecting their children who play games online, as well as learning more about their youngsters’ favourite games.
Organiser Michelle Poller, who set up the festival three years ago for her daughter who was too young to go to official Minecraft events on her own, added that Nethermined also has a strong educational value.
“It’s not just about playing games for fun,” said Michelle, from Newcastle.
“Minecraft is now widely recognised as a virtual reality educational tool and we have brought in a number of experts, including IT Educator of the year 2015, Joel Mills, who will be showcasing the way virtual reality can be used in education.
“We are hoping that this will also attract schools from across the region who should find it extremely useful.”
To allow more people to attend organisers have also now released a family ticket for £60 which can be used by two adults and two children, or one adult and three children.
