Seth MacFarlane’s Ted has been something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time, and after hitting US theatres this weekend, things have gone even better than expected, outperforming everyone’s expectations for it!
MacFarlane makes his feature directorial debut with the R-rated comedy, starring himself as a cute, cuddly, and foul-mouthed teddy bear opposite Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis.
A match made in heaven – especially for fans of Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, who’ve been looking forward to MacFarlane’s entrance on the big screen for some time now.
Whilst we’ve still got a month to go before its release, America has been lucky to have the film released this past weekend, and the numbers are brilliant:
The film went straight to #1 at the US box office, to the tune of m., making it the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy across the Atlantic, beating The Hangover, which took just shy of m. back in 2009.
Universal were originally going to release it next month on 13th July, but after Paramount pushed back G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the studio brought Ted forward to take the blockbuster’s 29th June slot, and the move has certainly paid off – especially since I think The Amazing Spider-Man will still be doing good business come 13th July, and The Dark Knight Rises would definitely have affected Ted’s legs had it been released that weekend.
With the move in place, positive word of mouth should help the movie go even further in coming weeks, and with an original budget of m., you can be sure that the studio are very happy with the first three days’ takings – especially since it still has dozens of markets still left to open in.
“Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane brings his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish…and has refused to leave his side ever since.”
Alongside MacFarlane as the voice of Ted and Wahlberg and Kunis (with whom MacFarlane has a history already in Family Guy) will be Giovanni Ribisi, Patrick Warburton (another Family Guy veteran), Laura Vandervoort, Jessica Stroup, Joel McHale, and Ralph Garman, with a script co-written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin (Family Guy), and Wellesley Wild (Family Guy).
Ted will be released in the UK on 1st August, two days earlier than previously expected, nicely letting us take advantage of Orange Wednesdays on its first day of release. In case you missed it, here’s the brilliant first red-band trailer that surfaced back in April – as expected from MacFarlane, highly unsuitable viewing if you’re currently at work.
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Source: Box Office Mojo.
