Seth MacFarlane has made quite a name for himself over the last decade. It all began in disastrous fashion when his new show Family Guy ended up canceled by Fox after a few seasons. Thankfully, it found an massive following on DVD and eventually was revived. After that, the show caught fire and MacFarlane ended up bringing a new show to the network called American Dad, and eventually signing an unbelievable $100 million deal.

One thing that MacFarlane has not done over the years is direct a movie, but that’s all about to change now. Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to Ted, a movie developed by Media Rights Capital and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild.

MacFarlane with make his feature directorial debut on the film, which is said to be a live-action/CGI hybrid about a man and his teddy bear, named Ted. While this sounds like it could be a movie based on the popular toy Teddy Ruxpin that would join the likes of Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and other popular old cartoons and characters that have gotten this same treatment, Ted will be just a little bit different. The movie is said to come with a “hard R-rating” that likely means Ted the teddy bear will not be something you’ll want hanging out with your kids.

Along with the writing and directing, MacFarlane — known for fantastic voice acting on his shows and also in movies like Hellboy II — will also voice the role of Ted, which would seem to be the easiest casting decision one could make for this particular project.

Ted is said to have a $65 million budget, and some dirty details are still being worked out with Fox, where MacFarlane already has an endless schedule to navigate. If all goes according to plan, the movie will go into production this year and will not cause any delays to Fox’s programming schedule.

This would become the second film that mixes live action actors and a naughty CGI character meant to appeal to adult audiences. Greg Mottola is currently putting the final touches on Paul, another R-rated comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as a couple of super geeks who accidentally discover an alien named Paul.

[Source: Deadline Hollywood]