20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
3. The Film Had The First McDonald’s Happy Meal Tie-In
Although they were not the very first “Happy Meals” at McDonald’s—the restaurant rolled out the idea nationally in June of 1979—Star Trek—The Motion Picture DID have the first ever McDonald’s Happy Meal tie-in with a movie.
Branded as “Star Trek Meals” and introduced in December of 1979 to coincide with the film’s theatrical release, McDonald’s rolled out five different Star Trek-themed Happy Meal boxes through February of 1980. The boxes contained artwork inspired by the movie, a short comic strip created by Ron Villani, a vaguely Star Trek-themed toy, and some very, very dumb jokes:
Q. What's most important when transporting “Bones”?
A. To get the real McCoy.
McDonald’s also produced their own television campaign with an actor hawking the meals in full Klingon makeup and speaking Klingonese (with English translation). According to Dawn Steel, Paramount’s Director of Merchandising and Licensing in 1979, “Coca-Cola and McDonald's were paying millions for the tie-in, on top of spending tens of millions to pay for network advertising to promote our film.” It’s unclear if they got their money’s worth, but according to one report, McDonald’s ultimately distributed 50 million Star Trek Meals to about 4,500 restaurants.