Ted (film)

Plot

In 1985, John Bennett is a lonely child living in 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.

In 2012, John and Ted are still living in Boston—aged 35 and 27 respectively—are still staunch companions enjoying a hedonistic life. John is dating his co-worker, Lori Collins. 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 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 Loris 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 manage to reconcile after a violent brawl in Johns hotel room. To repair Johns 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. Although Johns performance proves an embarrassment, Lori is touched by the attempt and returns to her apartment after being angered by Rexs sneering of him. Ted comes clean to Lori about his role in Johns 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 is immediately recaptured. Realizing Ted is in danger, John and Lori locate Donnys 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 Teds stuffing, Ted relays his wish that John be happy with Lori, as the magic that gives him life fades away.

Unable to accept Teds 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 Teds dead body. Fortunately, Ted is magically restored and after he tricks John into thinking he is retarded, 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-Lynns 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 Gehrigs disease. Donny gets arrested by the Boston Police Department for kidnapping a plush toy, but the charges are dropped because they sound ridiculous. Robert hires a personal trainer, loses a significant amount of weight, and goes on to become Taylor Lautner.

Production

Seth MacFarlanes 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 Boston, Norwood, Swampscott, and Chelsea all in Massachusetts.

The films 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 films 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.

1. "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" by Norah Jones
2. "The Power of Wishes"
3. "Thunder Buddies for Life"
4. "John and Lori at Work" / "A Walk in the Park"
5. "Magical Wish"
6. "Rexs Party (Everybody Needs a Best Friend)"
7. "The Breakup"
8. "Never Be Scared of Thunder Again"
9. "Ted Is Captured" / "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
10. "The Car Chase" / "Fenway Pursuit"
11. "Climbing the Tower" / "Shes Your Thunder Buddy Now"
12. "Saving Ted" / "Loris Wish"
13. "The Proposal" / "The Wedding"
14. "End Titles"
15. "Flashs Theme" by Queen
16. "Sin" by Daphne
17. "Only Wanna Be with You" by Hootie & the Blowfish
18. "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones
19. "All Time High" by Rita Coolidge
20. "I Think Were Alone Now" by Tiffany
21. "Thunder Buddies" by Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane

Other songs which do not appear on the soundtrack but are featured in the film include songs from Queens 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 titular character and the brands 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 Universals 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 in the three countries respectively. It also grossed $2.1 million in both Indonesia and Singapore, and $1.4 million in Thailand.

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 Teds 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.

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.

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 Universals 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.

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.

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

Ted received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise aimed at MacFarlane and Wahlbergs performances. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 68% approval rating with an average rating of 6.4/10 based on 202 reviews. The websites consensus reads, "Teds "romance versus bromance" plot is familiar, but the films held aloft by the high-concept central premise and a very funny (albeit inconsistent) script." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 62 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

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 "doesnt 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.

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.