Russia: Burger King wants to ban "It" movie

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Burger King is petitioning the Russian government’s Federal Anti-Monopoly Service to ban It from showing in theaters because they argue that the Stephen King reboot could potentially hurt its business. 

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 hardworking clowns made when they feared that IT would wreck their birthday party business, but whatever.

In the complaint, filed last week and obtained by Russian financial publication Vedomosti, Burger King bemoaned unfair competition, claiming the “protagonist of the movie,” Pennywise, “is an exact copy” of Ronald McDonald, "including the color range and the [balloons] with which the clown lures children.” The company believes that this violates Russia’s advertising laws.

A spokesperson for the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service told the Reporter that it received the complaint and is currently looking into whether the movie contained advertising or product placement for McDonald's. In the meantime, IT is playing on more than 100 screens across Russia and has already pulled in around $14 million in ticket sales, the Reporter says. 

The film, set in the fictional town of Derry in Maine, follows a group of misfit kids—the Losers Club—who band together to defeat a supernatural villain in the guise of a clown that preys on the town’s young.

Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema announced Monday a sequel to It will hit theaters in September 2019. That movie, set 30 years after the first, will adapt the latter half of King’s novel, following an adult Losers Club reuniting to take on Pennywise again.