Two decades ago, Edgar Bronfman Jr., having just acquired control of Universal, took me on a tour of his studio. Pointing to the black tower, he told me: “I hate black buildings. That one will soon be white.”

It’s still black. I remember his faux promise as a sort of metaphor for why Hollywood always greets corporate takeovers with a yawn. Dealmakers may boast of their deals, but history tells us that nothing ever changes.

Except history may be about to change its mind. The massive maneuvers newly engineered by Discovery and Amazon will substantially transform the cultures of their respective companies. They will also trigger further mega-deals that will reshape the industry, sharply changing content offered audiences and the technology of its delivery.

Given their resources and ambitious visions, David Zaslav and Jeff Bezos will not conveniently disappear like the wannabe moguls of the past. Zaslov will reign atop WarnerMedia’s business when the deal closes; Bezos has committed to focus attention on his Hollywood forays once he has established himself as the nation’s premier rocket man.

At this moment, however, both might benefit from a glimpse of the problems encountered by those merger mavens of the past who were bent on reinventing Hollywood. Their missteps illuminate both the power and the peril intrinsic in their missions.

A case in point: Vivendi’s ambitious Jean-Marie Messier had Hollywood in awe as he set out to devour Pathé, Canal Plus and, finally, Universal. French authorities pulled the plug by 2010, putting him on trial for massive embezzlement.

Christopher Skase, a charismatic but totally unknown Australian, jolted the industry by seizing control of a beleaguered MGM. He was also closing in on important British assets when he was arrested in Majorca.

Michele Sindona saw his acquisition of the vaunted Paramount studio lot as the first of his succession of Hollywood buyouts. He would shortly be transported to a Sicilian jail.

While this rogues gallery of takeover artists bumped into legal roadblocks, a subsequent succession of corporate players also hit a wall. Coca-Cola brought a swagger when it invaded an ailing Columbia Pictures, but its dealmaking style didn’t pay off in profitable product or successful diversification. Neither did General Electric succeed with its rigid structures when it tried to apply them to a confused Universal.