Box Office Milestone: 'Ted' Crosses $500 Million Worldwide

6:10 PM PST 11/15/2012 by Brandon Kirby

Rhode Island School of Design
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For a school founded in Providence in 1877, RISD produces some pretty au courant filmmakers in its Film, Animation and Video program. Grad Seth MacFarlane (Ted) subversively applied VFX to crude comedy. Robert Richardson (who went to AFI after RISD) won his third Oscar for Hugo, a film steeped in the imagery of another era. At RISD, film is seen in the context of an art college, and many students resist the idea of show business as usual.

TUITION $41,022
DEGREES BFA in film, animation, video
NOTABLE ALUMNI Gus Van Sant, David Byrne

The R-rated comedy from Seth MacFarlane has become Universal's highest grossing film of 2012.

It's a big year for Seth MacFarlane.

Universal announced Thursday that Ted -- MacFarlane's feature directorial debut -- has crossed $500 million at the worldwide box office to become the top-grossing original R comedy of all time, beating the $467.4 million earned by Todd Phillips' The Hangover.

PHOTOS: From the Mind of Seth MacFarlane

The Hangover Part II still reigns as the No. 1 R rated comedy of all time with $581.5 million in global ticket sales.

Ted has grossed $218.7 in North America and $281.4 internationally for a total $500.1 million as of Wednesday.

Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis star in Ted, with MacFarlane voicing the role of the raunchy teddy bear.

Produced by MacFarlane, Scott Stuber, John Jacobs and Jason Clark, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke has said that Universal is already planning on a Ted sequel.