Of course the reasons are logistical. Promotions are probably complicated to do, and going national is the best way to maximize sales and visibility for the film you're promoting. (There was, no lie, a fast-food tie-in to a TV show...where the promotion didn't start until after the show had been cancelled. That canceled show: Steven Bochco's Capitol Critters, the other what-was-Bochco-thinking? idea along with Cop Rock. The fast food chain -- it's likely merciful that I've forgotten which one -- had to push the tie-in tchotchkes for a show that 95% of the customers had probably never even heard of, and could no longer watch. AWKWARD.)
Maybe this is a sign I'm working hard, but there seems like a chance to buck this trend and get regional fast food places the chance to play in the film tie-in swimming pool: Hunger Games food tie-ins! One chain per "district" (region of the U.S.) could have movie tie-in stuff and have advertising talking smack about the other 11 districts. (The 13th district could be where Steak and Ale used to operate.)
Too bad this idea is too late to implement in time for the film's release. And too bad that in most of the 12 districts in The Hunger Games world's Panem, the food is, um, really questionable, thanks to the whole post-apocalyptic thing leaving almost all of the former U.S. terribly poor. (Enterprising readers at the San Jose Mercury News were recently making up recipes, I hope making sure they'd be recipes people would want to eat.)
This entry was brought to you by my need to read The Hunger Games series.
* That place was big in the D.C. area (and the Mid-Atlantic in general) in the 1980s, and I really liked it. You took care of most of your own burger toppings, thanks to the Fixin's Bar. I'd go heavy on pickles. When Hardee's bought Roy Rogers around 1990 and converted the restaurants to Hardee's, the customer revolt was so strong that Hardee's converted them back, the one improved-selling category (Hardee's breakfast) staying on the menu.