Sumner Redstone earned renown as both dealmaker and deal breaker (he once said he’d fired Tom Cruise). His daughter, Shari, seems to have inherited only part of his skill set.

Flash back 50 years: The Beverly Hills dinner party was lavish. The mood among the Hollywood power players was upbeat. Gossip about a stream of impending hits from the Paramount studio prompted praise and optimism.

Until Barry Diller abruptly chimed in. “Paramount’s management team will implode within weeks,” said the acerbic Diller. “It’ll be the classic Hollywood case of turning success into failure.”

From a perspective of 50 years, Diller’s prediction of turmoil proved accurate for that moment – and for the present as well. As a film studio, Paramount again levitates in limbo land. And Hollywood wonders whether any creative entity can survive its many episodes of turmoil.

Until this week Paramount’s new corporate suitors had ranged from David Ellison,...