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 film tells the story of John Bennett, a Boston native whose childhood wish brings his teddy bear friend Ted to life.

MacFarlane's feature-length directorial debut,[3] the film was produced by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Ted was the highest-grossing comedy film of the year 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.

On Christmas Day, he wished 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.

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, which leads to them arguing, but they reconcile after a violent brawl.

John does an off-key rendition of "All Time High", the theme song of Octopussy, which he and Lori watched on their first date.

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.

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.

[5] 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 actually 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.

[6][7] Originally, 20th Century Fox was offered to finance and distribute the film, given how it owns Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, all created by MacFarlane.

[8] 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.

[5] Two months later on December 14, Mila Kunis, MacFarlane's Family Guy co-star, also joined the cast.

[12] 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.

[18] 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.

[19] 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.

[26] 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.

[28] By its third weekend, the film stayed at the number one spot for a third week, with earning down less than 10%, pushing Ted's overseas total past the $300 million mark, and making it the top grossing R-rated comedy of all time in Japan.

[44] Overall, Ted had the eighth-highest opening weekend for any R-rated film, behind The Matrix Reloaded, The Hangover Part II, The Passion of the Christ, 300, Hannibal and Watchmen.

The website's consensus reads: "Ted's 'romance versus bromance' plot is familiar, but the film's held aloft by the high-concept central premise and a very funny (albeit inconsistent) script.

[58][59] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on December 11, 2012, by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

[75] 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".

[86] In April 2022, it was announced that Giorgia Whigham, Max Burkholder and Scott Grimes were cast as series regulars, in addition to MacFarlane reprising the voice of Ted.