I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1067: A Carnival of Bad Fun]

Waking up in the early morning, the gloomy weather outside made it hard to tell the time. However, the gentle scent of feminine fragrances in the cozy bedroom compensated well for the discomfort of the dreary weather.

This was Elisabeth's villa by the Thames River.

After last night when the place was overrun by a group of wild party-goers, Eric had received numerous calls from friends in London inviting him to stay over, all of which he politely declined. Eric was the kind of person who was very uncomfortable staying at someone else's place.

In the end, it was Elisabeth, knowing his character well, who somehow got the word and sent someone to find Eric directly on Kensington Street, bringing him here. After all, his woman's residence didn't count as borrowing.

Other than his lunch appointment with Olivia that day, he had no other plans.

As he felt the weather outside, Eric reached for his watch on the bedside table, planning to indulge in another hour of sleep when his phone rang.

...

Upon checking, he saw it was an unfamiliar number. Eric pressed the answer button and a polite woman's voice came through. After chatting for a bit, he hung up, got himself energized to dress and wash up, and headed downstairs just as the doorbell rang.

Eric walked over to open the door to find a young woman in her thirties with curly red hair, dressed appropriately in a camel-colored coat, holding a bag of breakfast in one hand and a stack of newspapers in the other.

"Hello, Mr. Williams, I'm Rebekah, Rebekah Wade. We just spoke on the phone."

"Hi there," Eric said as he took the breakfast bag from her. "Let me help you with that. Please, come in."

"Thanks," Rebekah Wade replied, handing over the bag and walking into the living room with him. She placed the newspapers on the coffee table. "I happened to be in the area, and Liz called to say you might need these."

"Much appreciated," Eric nodded, gesturing for her to sit down. He looked around and pointed towards what he assumed was the kitchen, smiling. "Would you like something to drink? I can get it."

"No, thank you, Mr. Williams. When Liz is not here, I take care of this place, so there's probably nothing in the kitchen."

"Oh, well then," Eric chuckled and didn't press further. He sat on the sofa and asked, "Are you a friend of Liz's?"

"I work at The Sun," Rebekah Wade replied, pulling out a business card and handing it to him. "Mr. Williams, if you need anything while you're in London, feel free to give me a call."

Eric glanced at the card, surprised to find that this woman in her early thirties was actually the deputy editor of The Sun. Although it was primarily a tabloid focusing on social news, it was also the largest newspaper in the UK. Achieving the role of deputy editor at such a young age showcased Rebekah Wade's remarkable abilities.

As he pondered this, Eric suddenly remembered another name. Looking up at the woman who was now arranging the breakfast from the bag, he noticed that her signature curly red hair matched perfectly with the memory in his mind.

Rebekah Brooks, one of the key figures involved in the phone-tapping scandal back in the original timeline, was referred to by the UK media as the "Queen of Tabloids." Murdoch, who relied heavily on her, even publicly praised her as "like a daughter" at times. The name change was likely due to her marrying and taking her husband's surname.

Rebekah Wade didn't notice the change in Eric's expression as she set up the breakfast, moved to the kitchen for utensils, poured the milk, and carefully tidied up the bag and wrappers before turning to him. "Mr. Williams, will you still be staying here tomorrow? I can bring breakfast again."

Eric shook his head. "I'll be leaving by noon, no need for that. Just call me Eric."

"Sure thing," Rebekah Wade smiled and nodded. "Then, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

...

After walking Rebekah Wade out, Eric returned to the sofa, picked up the cup of milk, tested its temperature, and enjoyed a sip. He casually grabbed a newspaper from the stack, and it just happened to be The Sun. Glancing at the breakfast on the coffee table, Eric couldn't help but smile.

Their first meeting contained no attempts at ingratiating or establishing a rapport; instead, she had quietly figured out his eating habits and organized everything neatly. While he wasn't sure about her abilities at work, her emotional intelligence and knack for handling situations were certainly impressive and not something many could match.

At the very least, Eric felt that if he needed assistance next time, it would be easy to think of her.

Momentarily setting aside these thoughts, Eric recalled last night's events and flipped open The Sun.

"Victoria's Secret Angels Take Over Garden Street Mansion, Eric Williams Left Stranded."

The striking headline was quite sensational and effectively captured readers' attention.

However, as he continued reading, the content subtly clarified that there was no big party when the Angels burst into his villa on Garden Street: he had merely lent it to them for an all-night bash. The article even included explanatory photos.

Now that the largest local tabloid had set the tone, smaller outlets couldn't possibly stir the pot further regarding last night's events.

With his mind eased, Eric began eating his breakfast and flipping through articles in other newspapers.

It was undeniable that the British media carried a somewhat hypocritical and righteous nature.

In the past few years when the Victoria's Secret fashion shows first gained traction, many British outlets slammed the brand with harsh criticisms, some even claiming that this "attention-grabbing lingerie brand" was nothing short of a mockery of the Victorian era.

Now, however, almost every paper praised last night's London show, treating Victoria's Secret as a quintessential British brand. The various British elements from past shows were chronicled, and the unprecedented scale of the latest event had even become a point of pride for the media.

...

The LTD team planned an event at the Victoria's Secret flagship store in London that afternoon. Emily had personally raced over to Kensington Garden Street that morning to round up the party-goers who had partied all night in preparation for the afternoon's event. It was then that Eric could finally take some time to head back.

Although the villa hadn't been left in a terrible state, the caretaker Merissa Mayer looked rather put out, perhaps feeling unfairly burdened by the antics of those party-loving guests.

Using a few clever tricks to evade the media, Eric had lunch with Olivia, staying at her gallery until the evening.

...

The next morning, he boarded a plane back to Los Angeles.

While various papers in the UK were still in a frenzy over the Victoria's Secret news, the North American media was buzzing with excitement because, on November 13, Ted was released.

By the late 90s, while the Raunchy Comedy gang had started to emerge, over-the-top absurdist comedies like those starring Jim Carrey were still the trend in Hollywood.

So when audiences and critics witnessed the no-holds-barred, outrageous humor in Ted, everyone was shocked. And when all this unfolded through the lens of a stuffed toy embedded in many people's childhood memories, the shock value skyrocketed, rendering them speechless.

On its first day alone, the media was ablaze with discussions about Ted. Most outlets felt that such unprecedented crude humor had crossed a line, and some overly emotional reporters even called for the film to be banned.

Yet unexpectedly, the critical reception from film critics towards the movie wasn't as harsh. Ratings showed that Ted scored over 7 out of 10 among critics, who found the film refreshingly original.

At the same time, despite its vulgar storyline, the film tackled a warm theme about adult choices between friendship and love.

As for other Hollywood studios, they were astonished by the level of digital effects.

Aside from a few shots utilizing toy models, most of the teddy bear scenes were achieved through motion capture, making the bear appear surprisingly lifelike -- almost indistinguishable from real human movement.

It's worth noting that this was not ten years later, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings hadn't even made his cinematic debut.

The original Ted, penned and directed by Mike Sethfern, was heavily steeped in North American television elements. These localized traits limited the film's overseas commercial potential and were often unappealing to the less TV-oriented younger demographic in North America.

While Eric could have replicated the original script from memory, he didn't consider it necessary since he recognized the flaws in the original. Now that he found himself in the film industry, it made sense for his object of parody and humor to be broader films that had a wider audience acceptance -- many of which became films Eric had directed over the years, such as Home Alone and Pretty Woman.

...

On the morning of the 14th in London, as Eric boarded his flight at Heathrow, news of Ted's "sensation" in the media back home had already reached him.

However, it was still late at night on the 13th in Los Angeles, so ticket sales data for the film wasn't available yet.

Due to the shift in media sentiment, executives like Katzenberg expressed their concerns, believing the film could flop. Eric himself felt he might have overstepped, overestimating the North American audience's tolerance for raunchy comedies.

However, as the Boeing 767 landed at Ventura Airport, Eric had not yet exited the aircraft when he received an excited call from Kenneth Horne. To mitigate the impact of Ted on the Firefly brand, Eric decided to let New Line take on its distribution, even though the film had reached a staggering final cost of $50 million.

With an opening scale across 2,700 theaters in North America, Ted raked in an astonishing $17.87 million on its first day -- figures that exceeded everyone's expectations.

A first-day income of $17.87 million hinted that the film's opening weekend box office might surpass $50 million, with total first-week earnings potentially exceeding $80 million.

An $80 million opening week was comparable to a blockbuster in terms of first-week numbers.

Although the investment in Ted reached $50 million, it could now only be classified as mid-range in recent years, and its promotional scale starkly paled in comparison to the 100-million-dollar blockbusters of larger studios.

Coupled with the fervent media controversy, the first-day take of $17.87 million could certainly be classified as an explosive success.

Strictly speaking, even if it were forced out of theaters after its first week, $80 million would still be quite a respectable figure for the film. Yet in the North American market, a movie -- especially a successful commercial film -- would rarely be yanked from theaters due to critical backlash.

In other words, an $80 million first week presented Ted with merely a starting point.

...

Upon hearing this news, Eric bypassed Liberty City Manor and headed directly to the Firefly Group headquarters in Burbank via helicopter from Ventura Airport.

As Eric entered the conference room, he found Katzenberg, Frank Wells, Kenneth Horne, and other executives engaged in a discussion over a few documents. When they saw Eric walking in, they all looked up.

Motioning for everyone to continue sitting down, Eric found a place at the large conference table and smiled, asking, "So, what's the current situation?"

"We just conducted a survey at several theaters in Los Angeles," Katzenberg said as he handed over a document. "The audience for Ted is primarily concentrated among those under 28, and contrary to most media criticisms, many viewers found it to be a really entertaining film."

As Eric examined the document Katzenberg provided, Frank Wells added, "However, Eric, I think we should immediately implement some precautionary measures. Just yesterday alone, our customer service department received over 3,000 complaint calls. Although it's labeled R-rated and we provided sufficient warnings in the trailers, some viewers who weren't paying attention seemed to have misunderstood it as a family film, and well, you can guess the outcome."

Eric nodded, "In that case, let's get the distribution department to draft a plan immediately. We need to do what's necessary."

After several hours of discussion with the executive team, they quickly mapped out follow-up promotional strategies before Eric finally left the Burbank headquarters.

...

In the following days, the ripple effects from Ted continued to grow. After the initial $17.87 million ticket sales, the film soared on Saturday, its single-day intake breaking the $20 million barrier, hitting $20.58 million. While sales began to slip on the third day, it still racked up $16.95 million.

By the end of the first weekend, Ted's box office earnings crossed over the break-even point, reaching $55.41 million.

The fierce critical backlash against this film had not only failed to dampen ticket sales; in fact, it ignited a perverse sense of thrill among young audiences. Many even felt Ted posed a threat to the upcoming release of Mission: Impossible 3.

*****

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