In 1994, when Sumner M. Redstone bought Paramount Pictures for about $10 billion, the equivalent of about $22 billion today, he did more than buy a company. He ascended to a cultural throne.Studios like Paramount, founded in the 1910s, which operated complexes of recording studios and controlled vast film libraries, were valuable companies on the verge of striking a goldmine: the DVD. But perhaps more importantly, they gave their owners a valuable identity as certified members of the cultural elite.Movies still dominated. The top-selling films of 1994 included such landmarks as "The Lion King," "Schindler's List," "Interview with the Vampire," "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Philadelphia," "Speed," and "Pulp Fiction." In 1995, when Paramount's "Forrest Gump" won the Academy Award for Best Pictu...