"Ted," directed by "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane and starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, beat three other new movies released in domestic theaters over the weekend ahead of the upcoming July 4th holiday in the United States, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters.

Male stripper movie "Magic Mike," starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, pulled in $39.2 million to notch second place in this weekend's box office race.

Last week's No. 1 film, Disney's animated fairy tale "Brave" about a strong-headed Scottish princess, dropped to third place with $34 million in domestic theaters.

"Ted" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp. Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros released "Magic Mike" and The Walt Disney Co's movie studio division distributed "Brave."

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Vicki Allen)

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