A foul mouthed, pot-smoking teddy bear isn't turning out to be
the franchise its backers had hoped.
"Ted 2" opened to a lackluster $33 million in the U.S. and
Canada, according to an estimate from its distributor, Comcast
Corp.'s Universal Pictures.
The original "Ted," which stars Mark Wahlberg as the best friend
of a talking teddy bear voiced by director Seth MacFarlane, opened
to $54.4 million in 2012 and was No. 1 at the box office.
But "Ted 2" came in No. 3. First place went to Universal's own
"Jurassic World," which held the top spot for the third weekend in
a row, grossing $54.2 million and bringing its domestic total to an
extraordinary $500.1 million.
It was followed closely by "Inside Out," from Walt Disney Co.'s
Pixar Animation Studios. Continuing its very healthy run, the
animated feature collected $52.1 million on its second weekend. It
has now grossed $184.9 million.
Both movies are performing strongly overseas too. "Jurassic
World's" international total is $737.5 million, while "Inside Out"
has grossed $81.5 million, with the film yet to be released in
markets including South Korea, the U.K. and Germany still to
launch.
The R-rated "Ted 2," in which the title character wants to have
a baby with a human woman, also fell short of the original in
several key foreign markets, including Germany, Russia, and
Australia.
Universal and co-financer Media Rights Capital LLC spent $85
million to produce "Ted 2," more than the original, making the
smaller box office returns a disappointment.
But Nicholas Carpou, Universal's president of domestic
distribution, noted that the big opening of the first "Ted" was a
surprise. "To create an expectation off that overperformance...
especially given that the competition now is substantially higher,
leads you down the wrong path," he said.
The movie got mixed reviews and an average audience grade of B+,
according to market research firm CinemaScore.
"Ted 2" marks a rare recent box-office misstep for Universal,
which in the past few months has released several major hits
including "Furious 7," "Pitch Perfect 2" and "Jurassic World."
The only other movie to launch nationwide was "Max," a low
budget family movie from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. about a service dog that worked with a
U.S. marine in Afghanistan. It opened to a modest $12 million, but
audiences gave the inspirational film an A CinemaScore and strong
word-of-mouth could help it to sustain at the box office in the
coming weeks.
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