Power Surge: Conglomerate Hollywood and the Studio System's Last Hurrah
Jul 2026 · Univ of California Press
Ebook
552
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About this ebook
"[An] impressive work . . . an entertaining pop history"—The Wall Street Journal
From the author of The Genius of the System, the classic tale of Hollywood’s first golden age, comes the story of its last.
Thomas Schatz returns us to an era when a newly enriched movie industry rediscovered its creative energy, and indie went mainstream without losing its edge.
Between 1989 and 2004, all the old studios either merged with other media giants or were swallowed up by even bigger diversified behemoths, leading to an infusion of money and fast-tracking the digital revolution. Yet even as CGI and piles of cash fueled a new breed of blockbusters—Batman and Titanic, Toy Story and The Lord of the Rings—an indie ethos permeated the industry. And at the crossroads of commodification and aesthetic vision, auteurs ranging from Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino to Sofia Coppola and Ang Lee became household names.
Power Surge traces these trajectories, which increasingly clashed and commingled during the 1990s and early 2000s, resulting in nothing short of a new golden age—and perhaps the last gasp of the century-old studio system.
From the author of The Genius of the System, the classic tale of Hollywood’s first golden age, comes the story of its last.
Thomas Schatz returns us to an era when a newly enriched movie industry rediscovered its creative energy, and indie went mainstream without losing its edge.
Between 1989 and 2004, all the old studios either merged with other media giants or were swallowed up by even bigger diversified behemoths, leading to an infusion of money and fast-tracking the digital revolution. Yet even as CGI and piles of cash fueled a new breed of blockbusters—Batman and Titanic, Toy Story and The Lord of the Rings—an indie ethos permeated the industry. And at the crossroads of commodification and aesthetic vision, auteurs ranging from Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino to Sofia Coppola and Ang Lee became household names.
Power Surge traces these trajectories, which increasingly clashed and commingled during the 1990s and early 2000s, resulting in nothing short of a new golden age—and perhaps the last gasp of the century-old studio system.
"[An] impressive work . . . an entertaining pop history"—The Wall Street Journal
From the author of The Genius of the System, the classic tale of Hollywood’s first golden age, comes the story of its last.
Thomas Schatz returns us to an era when a newly enriched movie industry rediscovered its c...
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About the author
Thomas Schatz is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. He is author of The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era, ranked by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the twenty greatest film books.
Thomas Schatz is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. He is author of The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era, ranked by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the twenty greatest film books.
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