Congratulations are in order to Seth MacFarlane. The $50 million comedy that Fox notoriously passed on is reaching $400 million this weekend at the global box office, setting more records for original offerings in the genre as The Hangover is expected to fall internationally. While the Todd Phillips bachelor party movie is still a champion on the domestic level, foreign audiences have been flocking to see the MacFarlane-voiced CGI Teddy bear as the late overseas rollout continues to pay dividends.
Having said that, Universal has recently confirmed that making a sequel to Ted is a significant priority over at the studio. It is pretty obvious that would be the case, but the question as to when this will happen hinges on the availability of Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, and Seth MacFarlane who all keep constantly busy with other gigs.
This news comes on the day that the Family Guy creator is set to host Saturday Night Live. Directors normally do not land the gig, but MacFarlane has made huge waves with audiences thanks to his collection of animated offerings on Fox giving him a cult-like following. We have seen him succeed before in a live-action television special, so we fully expect high ratings marks although the Sarah Palin days of SNL four years ago might still overshadow any such politically-charged ratings boost year-to-year.