Amid questions on official film rights, will the announced release date for "Ted 2" push through? 'Ted' was a surprise hit last year. It raked in $568 million worldwide even though it was produced on a $57 million budget. It made a lot of money for Universal.

The natural reaction of the big studios is 'Bring on 'Ted 2!' and they actually did. However, the big question was, are they allowed to?

The Seth McFarlane comedy was a breakthrough and it also highlighted a new trend among the big Hollywood studios-third party production. The movie was not made by Universal itself, but by an independent company called Media Rights Capital.

Independent production was brought about when the big studios became very cautious and stopped taking risks. They would rather concentrate on big budget superhero franchises that are near certain blockbusters.

It became very hard to pitch a movie like "Ted" which was an originally conceptualized film with a low budget. Not even the presence of Seth McFarlane, who has become a byword on TV, was enough to guarantee the greenlight.

 In this arrangement, Universal will be the one in charge of marketing and distribution. According to the Wall Street Journal, since MRC did not anticipate that the movie would be a hit, the deal called for Universal to pay a fixed amount to MRC, and keep all the profits.

With the overwhelming success of the fim, the word is that Media Rights Capital will not subscribe to the same deal. Naturally, they would want a bigger slice of the pie that they baked.

Universal has scheduled a July 15 release date for "Ted 2" but Wall Street Journal has reported that MRC has not yet made an agreement with them. MRC has already signed the Seth McFarlane and Mark Wahlberg, which means that the movie will be made. However, the studio that will distribute it is yet to be determined. Until then, the release date is not set in stone.