Ted

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 film tells the story of 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 John’s relationship with his girlfriend, Lori Collins.

MacFarlane’s feature-length directorial debut, the film is produced by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was released in theaters in the United States on June 29, 2012, and was a box office hit, grossing $549.4 million against a $50–65 million budget.

Ted was the highest-grossing comedy film of 2012, is the second highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time (behind The Hangover Part II) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It received generally positive reviews, and successfully launched a franchise, with a sequel released in 2015 and a prequel television series in 2024.

The wish coincides with a shooting star and comes true; word spread and Ted was briefly a celebrity.

Twenty-seven 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, who is from Philadelphia.

As their anniversary approaches, Lori hopes to marry John but feels he could not move forward 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.

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 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 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 breaks up with him. John blames Ted for ruining his life and banishes him.

John and Ted confront each other about their ruined friendship and they fight but manage to reconcile after a violent brawl in their hotel room. 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.

He does an off-key rendition of 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, an obsessive 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. 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. John and Lori gather Ted’s stuffing and Ted relays his wish that John be happy with Lori before dying from his injuries.

Unable to accept Ted’s death, a distraught John and Lori attempt to repair Ted, which proves useless. Feeling saddened about the incident, Lori makes a wish on a shooting star.

The next morning, John hangs his head while looking over Ted’s dead body. Ted is magically restored and reconciles with John and Lori, encouraging them to resume their relationship. 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. 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 police cannot arrest him as kidnapping a toy bear is not illegal. Robert hires a personal trainer, loses a significant amount of weight, and goes on to become Taylor Lautner.