Ted (film)

In 1985, eight-year-old John Bennett is a friendless only child living in Norwood, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, who wished for his new Christmas gift, a jumbo teddy bear named Ted, to come to life and become his best friend. The wish coincides with a shooting star and comes true; word spreads and Ted was briefly a celebrity.

27 years later, John (now 35) and Ted are still living in Boston, and are still staunch companions enjoying a hedonistic life. John is dating Lori Collins whom he met at a dance club. As their fourth anniversary approaches, Lori hopes to marry John, but feels he can not move forward in life with Ted around. John is hesitant about making Ted leave, but he is persuaded to act when they find Ted at home with a group of prostitutes after their anniversary dinner.

John finds Ted his own apartment and a job at a grocery store, where Ted begins dating his co-worker Tami-Lynn. Lori learns that John has been skipping work, using her as an excuse, to reluctantly continue 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 pressured offer to meet Sam J. Jones, the star of their favorite film, Flash Gordon. John intends to stay only a few minutes, but gets caught up in the occasion. Lori finds John there and furiously breaks up with him. A devastated John angrily blames Ted for ruining his life and disowns him.

John and Ted confront each other about their ruined friendship and then fight, but manage to reconcile after a violent brawl in John's hotel room (John is crushed by a television). To repair John's relationship with Lori, Ted arranges for an old lover, singer Norah Jones, to help by having John express his love for Lori with a song during her concert that Lori and Rex attend. He does an off-key rendition of the Octopussy theme song, All Time High, by Rita Coolidge and is booed offstage. Lori is touched by the attempt and 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.

Lori is persuaded, but Ted is kidnapped by Donny, a mentally unstable stalker who idolized Ted as a child. Donny plans to make Ted his brutish son Robert's new toy. Ted manages to reach a phone to contact John, but is immediately recaptured by Donny and Robert. Realizing that 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, knocking him out, but during the chase, Ted is damaged and falls onto the field, ripped entirely in half. A police car arrives, forcing Donny to flee. John and Lori gather Ted's stuffing and Ted relays his wish that John be happy with Lori, before the magic in Ted fades away making him a normal teddy bear again.

Not wanting to lose Ted, a distraught John and Lori rush back to her apartment and attempt to repair Ted, which proves useless. Later, Ted is covered with a blanket. Lori brings two hot drinks for her and John, and apologizes for Ted's death. Immediately afterward, a thunderclap happens, but John is to upset to feel scared. Feeling sad about her part in the incident, Lori makes a wish on a shooting star while John is asleep. The next morning, Ted is revived as a result of the wish and reunites with John and Lori, encouraging them to resume their relationship. John then finally proposes to Lori and she accepts. Sometime later, 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 love affair. Sam Jones attempts to restart his career and moves into a studio apartment with Brandon Routh (who starred in the "god-awful Superman movie"). Rex gives up his pursuit of Lori, falls 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 because the situation was not realistic. Robert hires a personal trainer, loses a significant amount of weight, and goes on to become Taylor Lautner.

Seth MacFarlane wrote, produced, and directed the film, and provided the motion capture and the voice for the title character.

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.[4] 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, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show.

Originally, 20th Century Fox was offered to finance and distribute the movie, given its collaboration with MacFarlane for shows like Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show. However, MacFarlane wanted a $65 million budget for the movie, which Fox considered the price to be too high for the R-rated comedy film, let alone for a first-time director, and was skeptical about the film's future success. Subsequently, Fox backed out and MacFarlane began to take the project elsewhere.[5] 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.[6]

On October 26, 2010, Mark Wahlberg joined in the project as the lead actor.[4] Two months later on December 14, Mila Kunis, the voice actress for Meg Griffin from Family Guy, also joined the cast.[7] On February 23, 2011, Giovanni Ribisi joined Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis in Ted.[8] Filming began in May 2011 in Boston, Norwood and other locations in Massachusetts.[9] Based on the standings on the left-field scoreboard, the climactic scene in Fenway Park appears to have been filmed on or around May 24, 2011.

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 (20th Century Fox) and following the delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Paramount Pictures/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).[10] Internationally, the film was released in Australia on July 5, 2012,[11] and on August 1, 2012 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[12]

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.[13] The song was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 85th Academy Awards.[14]

Track listing

All tracks by Walter Murphy except where indicated.

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.

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.[15] 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.[16]

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.[17]

In February 2013, Wahlberg and MacFarlane (as Ted) made an appearance at the 85th Academy Awards, which MacFarlane himself hosted.[18]

During the 2012 American Dad! Comic-Con panel, MacFarlane stated that he would be open to a sequel to Ted.[69] In September 2012, chief executive Steve Burke said that the studio would be looking to make a sequel to Ted "as soon as possible".[70]

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.[71]

In February 2014, Deadline reported that Amanda Seyfried had been cast as the female lead, and that Kunis would not return.[72] On July 8, MacFarlane announced that work had officially begun on the sequel.[73] Ted 2 was released in the US on June 26, 2015.[74]

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• Official website
• Ted at IMDb