Ted (film)



Ted is a 2012 American comedy film directed by Seth MacFarlane in his feature film directorial debut. The screenplay by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild is from MacFarlane's story. The film stars MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and with Joel McHale and Giovanni Ribisi in supporting roles, with MacFarlane providing the voice of the title character. The film tells the story of John Bennett, a Boston native whose childhood wish brings his teddy bear friend Ted to life. However, Ted prevents John and his love interest Lori Collins from moving on with their lives.

The film is MacFarlane's feature-length directorial debut, produced by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was the twelfth-highest-grossing film of 2012 and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

A sequel, Ted 2, was released on June 26, 2015.

Plot
In 1985, John Bennett is a lonely child living in Norwood, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, who wished for his new Christmas gift—a large teddy bear named Ted—to come to life and become his friend. The wish coincides with a shooting star and comes true; word spread and Ted was briefly a celebrity.

27 years later, John aged 35 and Ted age 27 respectively are still living in Boston, and are still staunch companions enjoying a hedonistic life. John is dating 28-year-old, Lori Collins, who is from Pennsylvania. As their anniversary approaches, Lori hopes to marry John but feels he could not move forward with Ted around. John is hesitant against making Ted leave, but he is persuaded to act when they find Ted at home with four prostitutes.

John finds Ted his own apartment and a job at a grocery store, where Ted begins dating his coworker Tami-Lynn. Lori learns that John has been skipping work—using her as an excuse—to continue to spend most of his time with Ted. Things start to come to a head when John and Lori are invited to a party put on by Lori's womanizing manager Rex, and Ted lures John away to a party at his apartment with the offer to meet Sam J. Jones, the star of their favorite film, Flash Gordon. Although John intends to stay only a few minutes, he gets caught up in the occasion. Lori finds John there and breaks up with him. John blames Ted for ruining his life and tells him to stay away.

John and Ted confront each other about their ruined friendship and after a when John says he wishes that he had been given a Teddy Ruxpin when he was 8 instead of Ted, they violently brawl in John's hotel room but, when a TV falls on his groin, they manage to reconcile. To repair John's relationship with Lori, Ted arranges with an old lover, singer Norah Jones, to help by having John express his love for Lori with a song during her concert, in which he does an off-key rendition of All Time High by Rita Coolidge, the theme song to Octopussy. Although John's performance proves to get him angrily and severely booed off the stage, Lori is touched by the attempt and returns to her apartment after being angered by Rex's sneering of him. Ted comes clean to Lori about his role in John's relapse and offers to leave them alone forever if she can talk to him. Lori is persuaded, but moments after she leaves, Ted is kidnapped by Donny, an obsessive stalker who idolized Ted as a child. Donny plans to make Ted the toy of his brutish son Robert. Ted distracts Robert and reaches a phone to contact John, but he is immediately recaptured. Realizing Ted is in danger, John and Lori locate Donny's residence and track him to rescue Ted. The chase leads to Fenway Park, where John punches Robert, but during the chase, Ted is damaged and falls onto the field ripped entirely in half. A police car arrives, forcing Donny to flee. As John and Lori gather Ted's stuffing, Ted relays his wish that John be happy with Lori, as he dies from his injuries.

Unable to accept Ted's death, a distraught John and Lori attempt to repair Ted, which proves useless. That night, Lori feels guilty about the incident, and makes a wish on a shooting star. The next morning, John hangs his head while looking over Ted's dead body. Fortunately, Ted is magically restored and after he tricks John into thinking he is physically/mentally challenged, he and Lori fully reconcile with Ted, who encourages them to resume their relationship. With that resolution, John and Lori are married (with Sam Jones as the presiding minister), and Ted comfortably accepts having a life of his own as he and Tami-Lynn continued their torrid love affair. One afternoon, Ted was caught behind the deli counter eating potato salad off of Tami-Lynn's bare bottom. He was instantly promoted to store manager. Sam Jones attempts to restart his career and moves into a studio apartment with Brandon Routh. Rex gives up his pursuit of Lori, goes into a deep depression, and dies of Lou Gehrig's disease. Donny gets arrested by the Boston Police Department for kidnapping a plush toy, but the police dropped the charges when they sounded too stupid. Robert hires a personal trainer, loses a significant amount of weight, and goes on to become Taylor Lautner.

Cast

 * Seth MacFarlane as Ted (Voice and motion capture), John's teddy bear and best friend
 * Zane Cowans as young Ted's voice.
 * Tara Strong (uncredited) as Ted's "I Love You" function
 * Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett
 * Colton Shires as teenage John Bennett
 * Bretton Manley as young John Bennett
 * Mila Kunis as Lori Collins, John's girlfriend
 * Joel McHale as Rex, Lori's boss
 * Giovanni Ribisi as Donny, Ted's stalker
 * Aedin Mincks as Robert, Donny's son
 * Patrick Warburton as Guy, John's co-worker
 * Laura Vandervoort as Tanya, John's co-worker
 * Matt Walsh as Thomas Murphy, John's boss
 * Jessica Barth as Tami-Lynn McCafferty, Ted's girlfriend and co-worker
 * Bill Smitrovich as Frank Stevens, Ted's boss
 * Alex Borstein as Helen Bennett, John's mother
 * Ralph Garman as Steve Bennett, John's father
 * Jessica Stroup as Tracy, Lori's co-worker
 * Sam J. Jones as himself
 * Ryan Reynolds (uncredited) as Jared, Guy's boyfriend
 * Norah Jones as herself
 * Tom Skerritt as himself
 * Mike Henry as a Southern newscaster
 * Robert Wu as Quan Ming/Ming the Merciless
 * Ted Danson (uncredited) as himself
 * Patrick Stewart as Narrator

Production
Seth MacFarlane's directorial debut is a live-action effort, with computer animation handled by visual effects facilities Tippett Studio and Iloura. MacFarlane wrote the screenplay with his Family Guy colleagues Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild. Filming began in May 2011 in Vancouver, Victoria, and Cranbrook all in Canada.

The film's North American release was scheduled for July 13, 2012, but it was pulled back to June 29, both to avoid competition with Ice Age: Continental Drift and following the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The film was released in Australia on July 5, 2012, and on August 1, 2012 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In a "behind the scenes" video, it was revealed that MacFarlane originally wanted to make Ted into an animated TV show, much like his previous works Family Guy and American Dad!.

Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was released by Universal Republic Records on June 26, 2012. It features the score by Walter Murphy and songs by various artists such as Norah Jones and Queen. Seth MacFarlane co-wrote the opening theme "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" with Murphy. The song was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 85th Academy Awards.

All tracks by Walter Murphy except where indicated.
 * Track listing

Other songs which do not appear on the soundtrack but are featured in the film include songs from Queen's Flash Gordon soundtrack: "Football Fight", "Battle Theme", and "The Hero", as well as the "Knight Rider Theme" by Stu Phillips, "Stayin' Alive" by "Bee Gees", "Kiss Kiss" by "Chris Brown" and "The Imperial March" by John Williams. The film trailers used the songs "Best Friend" by Harry Nilsson and "How You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy.

Marketing
To promote the film, Universal Pictures teamed up with Axe in a marketing campaign that involved the title character and the brand's hair care product Axe Hair. In one commercial, Ted takes a woman on a date to a fancy restaurant, where he brings her to orgasm under the table before handing another man a box of Axe Hair gel.

In February 2013, Wahlberg and Ted made an appearance at the 85th Academy Awards, which MacFarlane hosted.

Box office
Ted grossed $218.8 million in North America and $330.6 million overseas for a total gross of $549.4 million, against a budget of $50 million. It was Universal's highest-grossing film in 2012, ahead of Snow White and the Huntsman and Battleship (the only one to pass the $400 million mark ), and the 12th-highest-grossing film of 2012.

Ted debuted in first place in Taiwan and got the best comedy opening ever there. It also debuted in Hong Kong, with $1.4 million, and grossed $571,000 in its first week in South Korea, eventually grossing $8 million, $3.8 million and $1.8 million respectively. It also grossed $2.1 million in both Indonesia and Singapore, and $1.4 million in Thailand.
 * Asia

In January 2013, the film opened at number one in Japan, its final market, with $4.5 million, the best start ever for an R-rated comedy there. In comparison, it grossed more in its opening weekend than The Hangover Part II made in its entire run. The following weekend, it retained the No. 1 spot for the second consecutive frame, grossing $3.6 million at 137 dates, for a 10-day market cumulative total of $11.2 million. By its third weekend, the film stayed at the No. 1 spot for a third week, with earning down less than 10%, pushing Ted's overseas total past the $300 million mark, and making it the top grossing R-rated comedy of all time in Japan. It then had its fourth consecutive weekend at No. 1, drawing another $3 million at 354 locations in the country. Its cumulative total stands at $44 million grossed.

Ted debuted with $14.3 million in the United Kingdom, making it the third-best debut ever for a Universal film behind Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and King Kong, eventually grossing over $48.9 million in the country. Ted was released in cinemas across the United Kingdom on August 3.
 * Europe

The film had a $7.4 million launch in Germany, holding #1 spot for three-straight weeks, eventually grossing over $31.4 million.

In Spain, it opened with $2.3 million, which is the highest ever for an original R-rated comedy there, eventually grossing over $14.3 million.

The film also had the best Hollywood comedy debut ever in Russia, grossing $5.5 million, eventually grossing $17 million.

Ted spent its first 4 weeks atop the weekend box office in both the Netherlands, and Austria, eventually grossing $8.4 million, and $6.2 million in those countries respectively. The movie also opened at No. 1 in Belgium, with $587,000, eventually grossing $4.4 million.

In Italy, the film had a second place start, grossing $3.3 million in its opening weekend there, moving up to no. 1 on its second week, with $4.2 million grossed. It has since grossed $14.1 million there.

In France, the film debuted at No. 2, grossing $3 million in 348 theatres during its opening weekend, eventually grossing $11.5 million in the country.

Ted earned $2.6 million in midnight showings in the United States and Canada. For its opening day, Ted scored one of the best R-rated comedy debuts ever since The Hangover with an estimated $20.2 million. The film earned a total of $54.4 million in its opening weekend, well over second-place R-rated Magic Mike's $39.2 million. Its overall weekend gross set a record for the highest original R-rated comedy opening in history. It was the first time two R-rated films grossed more than $21 million each during a weekend.
 * North America

In Mexico, the film debuted in first place with $2.1 million, grossing $13.4 million.

Ted also debuted at #1 in Australia and New Zealand, grossing over $35.5 million and $3.5 million respectively. Its $13.1 million opening in Australia, of which $4.5 million were from previews, was Universal's biggest opening ever in the country. In Australia, Ted was rated MA 15+, whereas in New Zealand, it was rated R13 for its theatrical release and R16 for the DVD/Blu-ray release.
 * Oceania

In Brazil, the film opened with $1.4 million at 273 sites, moving up to 1st place in the country on its third week of release. It has since grossed $8.8 million there.
 * South America

The film also grossed $4.6 million in Argentina, 2 million in Chile, 1.9 million in Peru, and 1.7 million in Colombia.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 204 reviews with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ted's "romance versus bromance" plot is familiar, but the film's held aloft by the high-concept central premise and a very funny (albeit inconsistent) script." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, citing the film as "the best comedy screenplay so far [this year]," also praising the film on the fact that it "doesn't run out of steam."

Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club gave the film a "B" grade. Brent McNight of Beyond Hollywood commented on the jokes: "Some of these jokes hit, some jokes miss." On the other hand, A. O. Scott of The New York Times called Ted "boring, lazy and wildly unoriginal."

Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on December 11, 2012 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Both formats featured an unrated version of the film (112 minutes) and were also released in Australia on November 21, 2012, in an "Extended Edition". It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2012.

On May 3, 2016, Ted vs. Flash Gordon: The Ultimate Collection was released on Blu-ray plus Digital HD, featuring Flash Gordon and the unrated versions of Ted and Ted 2.

Sequel
During the 2012 American Dad! Comic-Con panel, MacFarlane stated that he would be open to a sequel to Ted. In September 2012, chief executive Steve Burke said that the studio would be looking to make a sequel to Ted "as soon as possible".

On Anderson Live, Wahlberg confirmed that a sequel was in the works and that it would be the first sequel in his career, while also revealing that he and Ted (as voiced by MacFarlane) would appear at the 85th Academy Awards.

In February 2014, Deadline reported that Amanda Seyfried had been cast as the female lead, and that Kunis would not return. On July 8, MacFarlane announced that work had officially begun on the sequel. Ted 2 was released in the US on June 26, 2015.