How Steven Spielberg Turned A 90-Second McDonald's Ad Into A Classic '90s Movie

In addition to McDonald's many memorable marketing campaigns, the global fast food chain inspired the 1994 football comedy "Little Giants," a classic kids' film that Steven Spielberg had a hand in. It all started with a commercial that aired during Super Bowl XXVI in 1992. Jim Ferguson and Bob Shallcross of the Chicago-based ad agency, Leo Burnett (now Leo), wrote the 90-second ad centered around pee wee football. According to a 1994 article in The Baltimore Sun, the day after McDonald's Super Bowl ad aired, Ferguson received a message telling him to "Call Steven Spielberg." The famed director wanted to develop the commercial into a film and picked the admen to pen the script, even giving them a brief screenwriting lesson.

At the time, Spielberg  was on the cusp of releasing "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List." The latter won him his first Oscar. He didn't direct "Little Giants," but came on board as executive producer via his production company, Amblin Entertainment. In a 2019 ESPN piece celebrating the film's 25th anniversary, Ferguson described his first meeting with the director. "Let's see what you can do in 90 minutes," Spielberg reportedly said, comparing the storytelling potential of a film to the ad's fleeting runtime. Considering 30-second slots for Super Bowl commercials cost millions of dollars, Ferguson noted that the extravagant 90-second advertisement slot was rare. 

McDonald's homage to pee wee football closes with its young players, unbothered by the stress of winning or losing, enjoying a post-game meal at the restaurant. Although fast food chains benefit from celebrity partnerships, there were no big names in the ad-turned-Hollywood project.

Once Jim Ferguson and fellow ad executive Bob Shallcross got the go-ahead from Steven Spielberg, they worked on the "Little Giants" script for about a year. Rewrites by industry screenwriters followed, and by the time it was released in October 1994, very little of the 1992 McDonald's Super Bowl commercial remained in the film's plot. For instance, the ad draws attention to the importance of everything but winning. The film, in contrast, hinges almost entirely on the underdog team's victory, with even the coaches placing hefty wagers on the final game's outcome.

One of the most significant changes stemmed from the source of funds. McDonald's paid for the ad, and in it, the young football players find comfort under the Golden Arches. During the film's writing, the NFL injected a significant amount of money into the project. Thus, the pee wee teams in the movie became the Cowboys and the Giants, and NFL legends cameo in the film to lift the young players' spirits. With the focus shifting from fast food to the actual sport, there is no post-game comfort meal of burgers and fries in "Little Giants." You also won't spot the film in McDonald's much-hyped 2023 "as featured in" meal campaign, which celebrated the burger chain's pop culture cameos.

By the time the film went through its final revisions, the advertising professionals' original screenplay and Super Bowl ad were distant memories. Yet it's Spielberg's initial vision that led to its making, and why "Little Giants" remains irrevocably linked to McDonald's.