Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite films this year, but I’m not ready to declare the best film I’ve seen this year.  Even though 2012 isn’t over, there have been other films that I enjoyed more and worked slightly better for me.  But Cloud Atlas is definitely the most important film I’ve seen this year in terms of what it represents from an industry perspective.  It is an independent film with a major budget.   The film had the technical resources to meet its grand ambition.  The Wachowski Siblings and Tom Tykwer have been able to successfully craft their vision and do so outside the Hollywood system, which is good because Hollywood never would have made a movie Cloud Atlas.  And if Cloud Atlas tanks, they never will.

You have the power to change that.

It looks like Universal Pictures is planning to firm up its film slate by focusing on franchises and animation over the next few years.  One of the most successful franchises to date started with The Fast and the Furious, which continues to hold strong (Fast Six is due May 24th, 2013).  Universal also plans on going ahead with sequels to this summer’s The Bourne Legacy, which starred Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz, as well as a follow-up to Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, with Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis. They’re also getting ambitious on the animated front by expecting to crank out two films a year, versus their current rate of two every three years.  Hit the jump for more.

Going into this weekend, there were some people who believed Sony’s remake of Total Recall would give The Dark Knight Rises a run for its money. Those people were wrong. With an estimate of $36.4 million, TDKR claimed its third straight weekend at number one while Total Recall barely topped the debut of the Arnold Schwarzenegger original… back in 1990.

For the past six days, Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man has held the top spot at the daily box office. It should surprise no one, therefore, that the reboot easily netted the weekend prize as well; earning an estimated $65 million from 4,318 locations. That gives the film a new domestic total of $140 million, a number that’s higher than early projections but lower than past entries in the Spider-Man series. Worldwide, the film has now earned a reported $341 million, which is not too bad for reboot…

The theory that audiences would wait for the tentpole movies of July before opening their wallets went down in flames this weekend as two all-original movies (R-rated ones at that) delivered stellar openings. Ted and Magic Mike bested Brave by taking first and second place: nearly doubling their pre-weekend projections and giving box office watchers a lot more to consider than the imminent arrival of The Amazing Spider-Man.

So, it appears the answer to the question “did I underestimate the blockbuster potential of Ted” is a giant “Oh Hell Yes.”  From its first day in 3,239 locations the R-rated comedy from first-time film director Seth MacFarlane (the Family Guy guy) made an estimated $20.2 million. And this from a movie that was projected to earn only $25 million for its first weekend! With Friday’s huge win, Ted is now poised to take in double that by Sunday – a figure that would top The Hangover as the all-time highest debut from an R-rated (non-sequel) comedy. But Friday’s surprises were not limited to talking teddy bears. Magic Mike, the R-rated male-stripper movie starring Channing Tatum, was also a giant over-performer with an estimated $19.4 million from 2,930 venues. Again, that is just under what Magic Mike was projected to earn in its first three days. Meanwhile, Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection, in 2,161 locations, also had a bigger-than-expected first Friday, taking in an estimated $10.25 million for what should prove a $27 million opening weekend. In fact, of yesterday’s four major new releases, only the Disney-distributed People Like Us played as expected – opening outside the top five with a modest $1.4 million.  We’ll have full details and analysis of this weekend’s box office tomorrow.

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has found great success in making adorable things like babies and dogs act like adults who crack offensive jokes.  MacFarlane sticks to his character formula in his directorial feature, Ted, but moves away from his tangential “This is ___ than the time ___” approach of his successful TV series.  Ted is better for the change as the story provides some nice (albeit plain) warmth to a barrage of delightfully juvenile humor.  MacFarlane’s sharp writing and direction, paired with a good comic turn from Mark Wahlberg, help make the film bigger than its simple premise of a talking, foul-mouthed teddy bear.

Last week, a really funny red-band featurette for Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s feature directorial debut Ted was released.  Now a new featurette has gone online, giving us a look at how MacFarlane played the titular teddy bear using motion-capture technology.  It’s a pretty interesting clip that shows MacFarlane pulling double duty on set, sitting behind the monitors and directing while also wearing a motion-capture suit so he can play opposite the human actors at the same time.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  If you missed our interview with MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis in which they talk offensive humor, creepy CGI and more, click here.  The film also stars Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, and Giovanni Ribisi.  Ted opens on June 29th.

Ted is a raunchy, outrageous and hilariously funny live-action/CG-animated comedy from the zany mind of Seth MacFarlane, the man behind the animated TV show Family Guy.  Bringing his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director, producer and voice star of the bear itself, the story is centered around John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man whose childhood wish brought his cherished teddy bear to life.  Almost 30 years later, Ted is still by John’s side, to the increasing annoyance of his girlfriend, Lori (Mila Kunis), who issues an ultimatum for John to leave his boyhood friend behind and enter adulthood.  For more on the film, here’s four clips.

At the film’s press day, co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, along with Seth MacFarlane, talked about how this film came about, starring opposite a teddy bear, how smooth the special effects turned out to be, figuring out where to draw the line with offensive humor, how Sam Jones (Flash Gordon) ended up in the film, and deciding on the specific look for Ted.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

A featurette filled with new footage from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s feature directorial debut Ted has been released.  The film stars Mark Wahlberg as a grown man whose childhood wish that his teddy bear would come to life actually came true, and now as an adult he’s having trouble letting go of his foul-mouthed buddy.  In the featurette, MacFarlane describes the film as a warm, fuzzy, heartfelt fucked-up fairy tale.  We get a look at a fair amount of new footage, including Ralph Garman and Alex Borstein as the young version of Wahlberg’s character’s parents.  As with the previous trailers, if you’re not a fan of Family Guy you probably won’t love the footage.  I particularly enjoyed Ted waxing poetic on the sexual stylings of Bostonian women, while there’s also a really funny gag at the end of the clip involving a pair of bare breasts.

Hit the jump to watch the decidedly NSFW clip.  The film also stars Mila Kunis, Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, and Giovanni Ribisi.  Ted opens on June 29th.

We’ve got some new images of the upcoming Seth MacFarlane comedy, Ted, to go with the clips we posted earlier.  The story of Ted follows John (Mark Wahlberg) and his teddy bear come to life (voiced by MacFarlane). As kids, I’m sure many of us wished that one or more of our treasured stuffed animals would come to life. We probably never expected our fuzzy friends to start smoking a lot of weed, crushing their fair share of Bud Lights and turning into furry little womanizers.  Of course, this causes a big problem for John, whose girlfriend (Mila Kunis) puts up the ultimatum that either Ted goes or she goes (easy decision in my mind).  Ted, also starring Patrick Warburton, Giovanni Ribisi, Laura Vandervoort and Joel McHale, opens June 29th.  Hit the jump to check out the new images.

You know his voice from Family Guy, but Seth MacFarlane will now be lending his signature sound to a walking, talking, pot-smoking teddy bear in Ted.   If you’ve already seen this red-band trailer, then you know what you’re in for with the following clips from the movie.  Ted stars Mark Wahlberg as a grown man who can’t seem to let go of his stuffed best friend, Ted (MacFarlane).  MacFarlane also co-wrote the screenplay and will make his feature directing debut with the comedy.  Ted, also starring Mila Kunis, Patrick Warburton, Giovanni Ribisi, Laura Vandervoort and Joel McHale, opens June 29th.  Hit the jump to view the clips.

We’ve got a bunch of new posters for you on this fine Friday morning.  After the jump, you can find international posters for Rock of Ages, Men in Black 3, Iron Sky, Chernobyl Diaries, Ted, and domestic posters for Ted and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and for each film’s release date and synopsis.

Hot on the heels of the news that Paramount is pushing back G.I. Joe: Retalitation to March of 2013 at the last minute, Universal has swooped in and grabbed the film’s old release slot of June 29th for the comedy Ted.  The film is Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s feature directorial debut and this allows the comedy to open before the summer’s big superhero pics, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises, dominate the box office.  It’s a smart move on Universal’s part, as late June is void of any adult comedy releases.  Ted was previously set for July 13th, but now the film faces off against Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper pic Magic Mike, the dramedy People Like Us, and Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection (sigh).

Ted stars Mark Wahlberg as a 35-year-old man who’s still best friends with his teddy bear, Ted (voiced and mo-capped by Macfarlane), after his childhood wish brought the stuffed animal to life.  The first red-band trailer was a bit polarizing, but  I thought Wahlberg hit all the right comedic notes and I’m looking forward to the film.

While Universal Pictures skipped CinemaCon/ShoWest the past couple of years, they more than made up for it with the best presentation of 2012.   While all the studios have great-looking movies arriving in 2012 and 2013, I wanted to see every single movie Universal talked about at CinemaCon  In addition, not only did they bring in the movie stars and directors, they world premiered footage from nine movies including Les Miserables, Ted, Savages, This is 40, R.I.P.D., Oblivion, The Bourne Legacy, Snow White and the Huntsman, and 47 Ronin.  In addition, they made sure to remind attendees that while filming hasn’t started on Fast and Furious 6 (the working title), it’s arriving next May, and Despicable Me 2 opens in July.  For what I thought about all the movies plus a complete video blog recap, hit the jump.