The Founder (2016)
He took someone else's idea and America ate it up.
Keywords
The Founder rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic
IMDb7.2/10· 203K votes
Rotten Tomatoes80%
Metacritic66%
TMDb7.1/10· 5K votesWith 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 7.2/10 on IMDb and 66/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been positive.
About The Founder
The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.
Cast of The Founder
Michael Keaton
as Ray Kroc
Nick Offerman
as Dick McDonald
John Carroll Lynch
as Mac McDonald
Linda Cardellini
as Joan Smith
B.J. Novak
as Harry J. Sonneborn
Laura Dern
as Ethel Kroc
Justin Randell Brooke
as Fred Turner
Kate Kneeland
as June Martino
Patrick Wilson
as Rollie Smith
Griff Furst
as Jim Zien
Wilbur Fitzgerald
as Jerry Cullen
David de Vries
as Jack Horford
The Founder facts
- Budget
- $15M
- Box office
- $24.1M
Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026MethodologyData sources
Audience opinions
What the audience liked
- •Corporate greed theme explores ambitious entrepreneurship critically
- •Biographical structure maintains engaging pace throughout runtime
- •Burger empire building showcases business-driven ambition effectively
What the audience disliked
- •1950s setting limitations feel restrictive to visual storytelling
- •True story adaptation simplifies complex historical events
Trailer
Where to watch The Founder(US)
View on JustWatch →Subscription
NetflixRent / Buy
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At HomeAvailability may change. Data by JustWatch.
Looking for movies similar to The Founder?
We've ranked 50 similar movies using 8 weighted content dimensions.