Ted (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2012 American fantasy stoner comedy film directed and co-produced by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild based on a story written by MacFarlane. The first installment in the Ted franchise, the film stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, with Joel McHale and Giovanni Ribisi in supporting roles, and MacFarlane providing the voice and motion capture of the title character. The story follows John Bennett, a Boston native whose childhood wish brings his teddy bear friend Ted to life. However, in adulthood, Ted and John's friendship begins to interfere with the progression of the latter's work life and his relationship with his girlfriend, Lori Collins.
The feature directorial debut of MacFarlane, the film premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on June 21, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 29 by Universal Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing $549 million worldwide. Ted was the highest-grossing comedy film of the year and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film also successfully launched a franchise, with a sequel released in 2015, a prequel television series released from 2024 to 2026, and a 2026 animated sequel series.
Plot
In 1985, 8-year-old John Bennett is a friendless only child living in Norwood, Massachusetts. On Christmas Day, he wishes for his new gift, a jumbo teddy bear named Ted, to come to life and become his friend. The wish coincides with a shooting star and comes true; word spreads, and Ted briefly becomes a celebrity.
In 2012, the now 35-year-old John and Ted are still living together in an apartment in Boston with John's girlfriend Lori Collins, and are staunch companions enjoying a hedonistic life. As the couple's fourth anniversary approaches, Lori hopes to marry John, but feels he cannot move forward in life with Ted around. He is hesitant about making Ted leave, but is persuaded to act when they find Ted at home with a group of prostitutes, including one who defecated on the floor, while they were out for their anniversary dinner.
John finds Ted his own apartment and a job at a grocery store, where he begins dating his co-worker, Tami-Lynn. Lori learns that John has been skipping work, using her as an excuse, to spend most of his time with Ted. John and Lori are invited to a party put on by Lori's womanizing manager Rex, but 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.
Intending to stay only for a few minutes, John gets caught up in the occasion. Lori finds John there and kicks him out of their apartment, breaking up with him. Devastated and furious, he blames Ted for ruining his life and ends their friendship.
Ted then goes to John's hotel room to inform him that Lori and Rex are attending a Norah Jones concert on a date together. Their conversation becomes an argument and then a violent brawl, but they reconcile. To repair John's relationship with Lori, Ted arranges for Norah Jones, an old lover of his, to help by having John express his love for Lori with a song during Norah's concert.
John does an off-key rendition of "All Time High", the theme song of Octopussy, which he and Lori watched on their first date. He is booed off stage, though the attempt touches Lori. She returns to her apartment, where Ted confesses to his role in John's relapse and offers to leave them alone forever if she talks to John, to which Lori agrees.
After Lori leaves, however, Ted is kidnapped by Donny, an obsessive stalker who has idolized him since he was a child. Donny plans to make Ted into his son Robert's new toy. Ted obtains a phone to contact John, but is recaptured.
Realizing Ted is in danger, John and Lori locate Donny's residence and track him. They chase them to Fenway Park, where Donny rips Ted in half. Two police cars arrive, forcing Donny to flee the scene. John and Lori gather Ted's stuffing, and Ted relays his wish for John to be happy with Lori before the magic in Ted fades away, making him a normal teddy bear again.
Unable to accept his death, John and Lori unsuccessfully attempt to repair Ted. Saddened by the incident, Lori makes a wish upon a shooting star. The following day, Ted is magically restored due to the wish and reunites with John and Lori. John finally proposes to her, and she accepts. Sometime later, John and Lori get married (with Sam Jones as the presiding minister).
In the film's epilogue, the narrator says that Ted comfortably accepted having a life of his own, as he and Tami-Lynn continued their love affair; Sam Jones attempts to restart his film 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 Ted, but the charges are dropped, due to the situation sounding ridiculous. Robert hires a personal trainer, loses a significant amount of weight, and goes on to become Taylor Lautner.
Cast
Mark Wahlberg as John Bennett, Ted's best friend who, as a child, wished he would come to life. An immature but mild-mannered slacker who loves to smoke pot with his best friend. Colton Shires as teenage John Bennett Bretton Manley as young John Bennett Seth MacFarlane as Ted (voice and motion capture), John's teddy bear and best friend. John wished him to life when he was a kid, and the two have remained friends ever since. Ted grows up to be a crude, foul-mouthed, alcoholic teddy bear, but he is also a lovable cheeky-chappy and is highly protective of John. Zane Cowans as young Ted's voice. Tara Strong (uncredited) as Ted's "I Love You" function Mila Kunis as Lori Collins, John's girlfriend who believes Ted is hindering her and John's relationship. Joel McHale as Rex, Lori's womanizing manager at her job and John's romantic nemesis Giovanni Ribisi as Donny, Ted's biggest fan and stalker Aedin Mincks as Robert, Donny's brutish 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 Ginger Gonzaga as Gina, 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 the Narrator Shawn Thornton as the enraged audience member
Production
This film serves as the feature directorial debut of Seth MacFarlane, his first time as director in any capacity. Compared to most of his other work, such as Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, this film 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 based on a story idea written by MacFarlane himself. MacFarlane originally wanted to make Ted into an animated television show, much like his previous works, and later revealed in an interview with TheWrap ahead of the release of the prequel series in 2024 that he had pitched the idea as a family-oriented series during his time working at Hanna-Barbera, wherein Ted would be what MacFarlane described as a "leech on the family" as the boy went on to grow up, go to college and start said family. While MacFarlane himself admitted he "never did anything with" the original incarnation of the project, he came back to it when considering ideas for his first feature film, realizing it "seemed like an idea that had some legs... and since it was a movie instead of a TV show and an ongoing group of characters, it seemed like telling a love story from start to finish and using that framework was maybe a better way to go. So the dad became a single guy trying to get his relationship back together".Ted Was Initially Pitched As A Family-Oriented Animated SeriesSeth MacFarlane Says ‘Ted’ Was First Pitched as a Family-Focused Animated TV Show
Originally, 20th Century Fox was offered to finance and distribute the film, given their production partnership with Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, all created by MacFarlane. However, MacFarlane wanted a budget of $65 million for the film, which Fox considered to be too high for an R-rated comedy film, let alone one from a first-time director, and was skeptical about the film's future success. They also wanted it to be rated PG-13 instead of R, which MacFarlane, Sulkin, and Wild ended up writing a version of. However, despite this, Fox backed out, and MacFarlane began to take the project elsewhere. MacFarlane later set up the project at Media Rights Capital, and on April 12, 2010, Universal Pictures announced that it had acquired the full rights to Ted after it agreed to the $65 million budget he requested and to direct the R-rated version of the script.
On October 26, 2010, Mark Wahlberg joined the project as the lead actor opposite MacFarlane. Two months later, on December 14, Mila Kunis, MacFarlane's Family Guy co-star, also joined the cast; it is Wahlberg and Kunis' second collaboration following 2008's Max Payne. On February 23, 2011, Giovanni Ribisi signed on to the film to play the film's villain. Filming began in May 2011 in Boston, Norwood and other locations in Massachusetts.
The film was scheduled for release in the United States on July 13, 2012, but it was moved up to June 29, both to avoid competition with Ice Age: Continental Drift and following the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation."Seth MacFarlane's Ted now scheduled for theatrical release June 29th" . Daily Blam. Retrieved September 25, 2012. Internationally, the film was released in Australia on July 5, 2012,"Ted" . Village Cinemas. Retrieved September 25, 2012. and on August 1, 2012, in the United Kingdom and Ireland."Ted" . FilmDates.co.uk. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
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.
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.
To promote the film in Japan, United International Pictures teamed up with Spike Chunsoft in a marketing campaign that involved the title character and Danganronpa bear mascot Monokuma.
In February 2013, Wahlberg and MacFarlane (as Ted) made an appearance at the 85th Academy Awards, which MacFarlane himself hosted.
Release 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 $400 million), and the 12th-highest-grossing film of 2012.
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