‘Ted 2’ Gets a Release Date

As is the case with most big Hollywood properties these days, it all begins with a release date, and the sequel to Seth MacFarlane’s surprisingly huge 2012 R-rated comedy Ted appears to be a go, as it was announced today that its sequel will be come to a theater near you on June 26, 2015.  It seemed a given as the original film – a raunchy buddy film centering around the relationship between Mark Wahlberg’s arrested development Bostonian John Bennett and his filthy-tongued childhood teddy bear – became a sleeper hit in the summer of the 2012 eventually becoming the highest grossing R-rated comedy.

The script will be written by Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, who wrote the original film and are longtime MacFarlane collaborators. Both scribes have written for Family Guy as well as MacFarlane’s newest live-action television show Dads. MacFarlane will return as the director as well as the voice of the smutty title character, while Wahlberg is slated to return as well.  As of now, it’s unclear who, if anybody else from the original film will return as well.  The first film was nominated for an Original Song Academy Award (“Everybody Needs a Best Friend”), which was written by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy; MacFarlane, of course, hosted this past years telecast, giving him the distinction of being one of the rare nominees to do so in history.

The storyline for the second go-around is still under wraps, but production is rumored to begin next summer.  This marks one of the big cards on the table for distributor Universal Pictures’ potentially big 2015 line-up, which will also include the next chapter in the Jurassic Park franchise, entitled Jurassic World starring Bryce Dallas Howard and being directed by Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed), the Despicable Me spinoff Minions which will feature the vocal talents of Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm, as well as Source Code director Duncan Jones’ take on Warcraft.

If 2015 appears a long way off and you’re in need of a quicker MacFarlane fix, his second outing as a live-action feature director will come out next summer, the western A Million Ways to Die in the West, which will star MacFarlane alongside Amanda Seyfried, Charlize Theron, Neil Patrick Harris and Liam Neeson.  That film is set to be released May 30, 2014.