Thomas Schatz's "Power Surge" chronicles Hollywood's transformation from the 1990s through the early streaming era, arguing the period represents the industry's last golden age. The book opens with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, which Warner Bros. chief Terry Semel called the first film to exploit the studio's full cross-marketing machine — toys, T-shirts, tie-ins — establishing the franchise blueprint still used today.

Consolidation drove the economics. In 1983, 50 companies controlled most U.S. media. After Reagan-Bush deregulation and the mid-1990s repeal of cross-ownership rules, that number fell to 23 by 1990 and 10 by 1996. Studios and corporate parents snapped up broadcast and cable networks, creating vertically integrated giants that could finance and distribute tentpoles globally while independent filmmakers found new theatrical and home-video avenues.

Schatz populates his narrative with CEOs and directors whose visionary bets frequently crashed. The era's motto might be William Goldman's maxim: "nobody knows anything." Yet the franchise model proved durable, minting IP libraries that now anchor every major streaming service.

The lesson for today's media executives: consolidation creates distribution power, but creative risk remains unquantifiable. The 1990s mergers built the balance sheets that fund current content wars, yet the same "nobody knows anything" uncertainty governs which franchises survive the next disruption.