Nostalgia Alert! CGC Certifies McDonald's Food/Film Combos from the Early 1990s

The 1990s were the heyday of VHS, as people bought copies of blockbuster movies they could enjoy whenever they wanted at home. Such movies typically cost around $20, about the cost to take a family of five to the theaters at the time.

In 1991, undisputed fast food leader McDonald's partnered with Paramount Home Video on a promotion involving the first three Indiana Jones movies, which had already sold nearly 10 million videocassettes at the time. By purchasing an eligible sandwich, customers could pay $5.99 for their choice of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

The promotion ran for a few weeks around Christmas 1991, and most of McDonald's 8,600 franchises in the US participated, with a goal of selling an additional 5 to 6 million VHS cassette tapes. McDonalds ran a major TV ad campaign for the Indiana Jones deal, and also promoted other Paramount movie titles on their tray liners.

McDonald's brought the VHS promotion back in 1992, branding it as their Holiday Film Festival. The titles included Babes in Toyland (1986) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1998) for $5.99 as well as Dances With Wolves (1990) for $7.99, with the purchase of an eligible menu item. Dances With Wolves was a pretty big deal, having finished in fourth place at the box office for its year and then going on to collect seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and set a rental record of 649,000 units. Video cassette retailers noticed and did not appreciate such a popular movie being widely sold at such a low price, potentially taking away a lot of their customers.

For the 1993 promotion, the back of the video cassettes included a McDonald's logo along with a warning: "Purchased at McDonald's. Not for resale or rental." The slate of movies that year included The Addams Family (1991), Charlotte's Web (1973), Ghost (1990) and Wayne's World (1992).

In 1994, the Holiday Film Fest promotion wrapped up with An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991), Back to the Future (1985), Field of Dreams (1989) and The Land Before Time (1988) being offered at $5.99 apiece.

CGC has certified more than 100 examples of Back to the Future VHS cassettes from the McDonald's promotion, which lack a UPC bar code. Many of them still have a round red sticker with the McDonald's logo and the words NOT FOR RESALE OR RENTAL; a larger blue sticker offering a $2.50 mail-in rebate with a Jurassic Park videocassette; or both. An example graded CGC 9.8 sold through eBay for $300 in November 2025, while a CGC 9.6 A+ sold for $228 a month later.

In addition to the Back to the Future ones, CGC has also certified dozens of examples of the other VHS cassettes offered in the 1993 and 1994 promotions. Grading your games enhances their value while also protecting them from elemental damage and wear and tear. Go here to learn how to submit.