If someone had suggested after the Asian and Russian crises of 1997 and 1998 that the United States would be the cause of the next global financial crisis, many people might have laughed. Many people might also have reacted similarly 10 years ago if they had been told Hollywood would morph into a nexus of international talent and money. The Hollywood studios have always sought to adapt to trends--whether in markets or in content--and have a record of aggressively pursuing new sources of talent, and of financing for and distribution of their product. Recently, though, the studios have come, in part, to function as much like an export-import bank as the creators of the American cultural export good known as the movies. The flow of content, financing and influence from abroad has taken on dazzling proportions.

The major Hollywood studios have a colorful international history that dates back, most prominently, to the influx of foreign talent in the 1930s and 1940s, including prominent European Jewish emigres who became some of Hollywood's leading figures. In recent years, the presence of internationalism within the Hollywood system, and the response to challenges from outside it, demonstrates a wholesale adaptation to the winds of globalization.