The comedy sequel, which stars Mark Wahlberg and a teddy bear voiced by Seth MacFarlane, made $32.9 million between Friday and Sunday, according to studio estimates.
Jurassic World and Inside Out made $54.2 million and $52.1 million respectively over the same period.
Canine drama Max, another new release, made its bow-wow in fourth place.
Max, about a military dog afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), made $12.2 million in its first three days in North American cinemas.
Ted 2‘s opening weekend tally is no disgrace for a film rated R, which requires under 17s to be accompanied by an adult parent or guardian.
Yet the Universal release had been expected to perform better given the success of its 2012 predecessor, which took almost $550 million at the worldwide box office.
“We could have had a higher gross, but we get the gross we get,” said Universal’s Nick Carpou.
“It was a very competitive marketplace this weekend.”
Jurassic World, which was also produced by Universal Pictures, has now spent three weekends as the US and Canada’s No 1 movie.
The fourth installment in the resurrected dinosaur franchise has now made more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
North American box office top 10:
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