“Ted,” Seth MacFarlane’s breakout summer comedy about a lovable manchild and his pot-smoking teddy bear, has earned Jon Mone a job at Universal Pictures, where he will serve as Executive Vice President of Production.
Mone won't be moving far, having worked at Scott Stuber’s Bluegrass Films, a Universal-based production company, since 2006. While at Bluegrass, he worked on hits like "Role Models" and "Ted." Mone served as executive producer on "Ted," one of the most successful comedies in recent memory.
At Universal, Mone will report to Peter Cramer and Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, co-presidents of production at the studio.
Also Read: How 'Ted' Became Summer's Surprise Box-Office Superhero
“Jon has been a member of the Universal family for some time now, and we’ve had productive collaborations with him on numerous projects, including on our big summer comedy, ‘Ted,’” Cramer said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have him join the studio’s production group.”
A graduate of Middlebury College, Mone joined Bluegrass after working on a pair of uplifting sports films — "Miracle," a fictionalized version of the United States' improbable gold medal in hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and "Invincible," the Mark Wahlberg-starrer about an unlikely football star in Philadelphia.
After joining Bluegrass in 2006, Mone earned his first executive producer credits on "The Wolfman" and "Repo Men" before working on "Your Highness" and "Battleship."
None of those films performed particularly well at the box office — "Battleship" in particular was a misfire. However, "Ted" rejuvenated the studio after several months of bad press, delivering Universal one of the summer's biggest hits.
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Mone is currently working on "47 Ronin," Carl Rinsch's Japanese epic, a retelling of a famous Japanese samurai tale that stars Keanu Reeves. The production has been plagued by conflict between the studio and the filmmaker, as well as budgetary issues.
The newly hired executive will also oversee development of Universal’s action-adventure adaptation of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” as well as "The Thriller."