Book Review: Herbert, Daniel. <i>Maverick Movies</i> (University of California Press, 2023)

new book, Maverick Movies, details the rise and fall of New Line Cinema, one of Hollywood's most successful independent distribution and production companies of the 1980s and 1990s, alongside the corporate consolidation and conglomeration of those same decades.The book charts the shifting identities, philosophies, and strategies of the company's leadership, as well as the broader circumstances of the media industries in which it found itself and had to remain flexible.Home to some of the most significant films and film franchises of the past 50 years, New Line had to constantly evolve in order to maintain not only profitability but also relevance, something that-as noted in the book-many, many other independents failed to hold on to.Herbert attributes its continued success to its "eclecticism" as a company, highlighting for readers "how, in some critical moments, New Line's films and business strategy accorded fortuitously and meaningfully with larger conditions of American cinema," in terms of both the industry's economics and cultural interest and taste. 2 In so doing, Herbert provides a comprehensive overview of New Line from its inception in the 1970s as a small distributor of arthouse and concert films through to its ultimate