How 'Ted 2' Collapsed the Seth MacFarlane Cinematic Empire Ten Years Ago

It has been 10 years since Ted 2hit theaters. That means it’s been a decade since a theatrical film was released that Seth MacFarlane wrote and directed hit the silver screen. The Family Guy creator has instead stuck to the small screen for projects like The Orville and the Ted TV show. What a strange outcome considering moviegoers experienced new MacFarlane comedy movies for three out of four consecutive summers from 2012 to 2015.

In 2012, a raunchy teddy bear seemed to solidify Seth MacFarlane as a new theatrical cinema titan. While MacFarlane’s television exploits have lasted nearly three decades, his big screen empire collapsed after just three years. What happened?

It certainly did seem, for a moment, that Seth MacFarlane was going to be just as dominant in film as he was on Fox’s Sunday night Animation Domination block. Ted was a cultural phenomenon in June 2012 that grossed just over $520 million worldwide, including a hefty $218 million domestically. Rarely in the history of R-rated comedies had one of these films been so lucrative. A lewd teddy bear was a license to print money … and for MacFarlane to expand his connection to filmmaking.

One misconception in Hollywood is what makes a hit movie successful. An original story like Avatar with heartfelt romance and a soaring sense of spectacle suddenly boils down to “digital 3D=$$$,” for instance. Logan only worked for people because of its R-rating. A lot went right with Ted. This included the titular lead’s inspired, simplified character design, its 4th of July release date, and audiences enjoying seeing Mark Wahlberg subvert his tough-guy image while playing opposite a raunchy teddy bear. However, in Tinseltown, it was perceived that Ted was solely successful because of Seth MacFarlane.

This guy’s limited popularity when he wasn’t hidden behind an animated character crystallized after his 85th Academy Awards hosting debacle. Instantly, this stint suggested that MacFarlane wasn’t going to have the longevity of Adam Sandler in the comedy movie realm. Sandler happily embraces a media image of shaggy jeans and baggy sweatshirts that make him identifiable to general moviegoers. He’s always playing to his crowds, including increasing the acknowledgment of his own mortality (see: that great Chris Farley song) as he gets older.

MacFarlane, meanwhile, tried showing he could do lewd jokes (remember that insufferable “We Saw Your Boobs” number?) and be a classy member of the “refined” cinema scene. The tangible passion for movies, reverberating off great modern Oscars hosts like Hugh Jackman and Conan O’Brien, was absent. Instead, MacFarlane was neither fish nor fowl in one of his first big post-Ted movie-based gigs. The bloom was already off the rose before Ted was even a year old. Maybe the Family Guy mastermind and cinema weren’t such an ideal match after all.

If the Oscars were a setback, 2014’s A Million Ways to Die in the West was the guillotine that cut off the head of MacFarlane’s film career. The unique creative alchemy (not to mention simple comedic pleasures) of Ted vanished. Instead, MacFarlane now starred in a Western comedy running one joke (people are always perishing in the Old West) into the ground. Flesh and blood MacFarlane having to pick between two hot women to love wasn’t nearly as compelling to audiences as the Boogie Nights leading man smoking weed with a teddy bear.

Plus, West exploited the most despised elements of MacFarlane’s TV comedies. While Ted had one or two jokes (namely an extended Airplane! homage) qualifying as “cutaway gags,” it largely stuck to a linear, standalone storyline with similarly self-contained jokes. West, meanwhile, has distracting cameos from Bill Maher, Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, and Jamie Foxx’s Django, not to mention a generally slipshod episodic story structure. This gangly creation just wasn’t as enjoyable to watch. Considering MacFarlane was the feature’s writer, director, and star, just walking away from this creative and box office disaster wasn’t going to be easy.

Ted 2’s obviously obligatory nature, the following year, only exacerbated concerns that MacFarlane had run his course already in cinema. This sequel’s plot concerned Ted being caught up in a legal matter over whether or not he was a person, complete with even more surprise celebrity cameos (including Jay Leno, John Slattery, and Jimmy Kimmel). Ted 2 also adhered to the tiresome comedy sequel hallmark of the first movie’s love interest suddenly vanishing, with Mila Kunis getting replaced by Amanda Seyfried. What was lewd and provocative in 2012 had already become cozily familiar in 2015. Once Ted 2 underperformed financially, MacFarlane quickly switched back to various television exploits.

To be fair to the voice behind Roger the Alien, MacFarlane’s silver screen reign was also cut short by elements beyond his control. Ted dropped in the final years of a golden age for R-rated comedies that Wedding Crashers and The 40 Year Old Virgin began in 2005. In 2013, a whopping six R-rated comedies comprised the year’s 35 movies $100+ million grossers. In 2015, only two features (Trainwreck and Spy) got past that nine-digit mark domestically. Only one (Girls Trip) cleared that mark in 2017. As the box office potential for these titles shrank and studios began focusing on big-budget tentpoles rather than standalone comedies, big-screen yuk-fests (R-rated or otherwise) began vanishing entirely.

Even if Ted 2 had been just as big as Ted, it’s doubtful MacFarlane would’ve found much support or financing for further theatrical comedies in the late 2010s. The end was coming for many long-time theatrical comedy cinema staples (including Sandler). MacFarlane, naturally, wasn’t spared from this exodus. Plus, MacFarlane still anchored plenty of creative exploits in the late 2010s that demonstrated his name was far from innately toxic. The Orville rocketed to solid ratings on Fox in its 2017 debut while MacFarlane also recorded multiple major Grammy-nominated jazz albums. He wouldn’t have had time to record the likes of Full Swing and Once in a While if he was directing motion pictures.

Still, the dwindling box office and artistic returns of MacFarlane’s post-Ted directorial efforts make it clear that this artist didn’t quite have the same lasting impact on cinema as he did on animated sitcoms. Even with so many Family Guy memes populating the internet from the Gen Z and Gen Alpha crowd, there has been no renewed appreciation for A Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted 2. This speaks to how it’s always been the projects MacFarlane’s worked on, rather than MacFarlane himself, that’s captured the public’s imagination. Forgetting that in the aftermath of Ted’s immense success ensured a cinematic empire crumbled almost as quickly as it had been established. That’s almost as devastating to consider as the time I ran into Electric Light Orchestra and Toad the Wet Sprocket in the same elevator.