Jurassic World,' Pixar Knock Stuffing Out of 'Ted 2'

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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