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3 movies is really optimal for a single storyline. Another that nails the medium-story fit is the Nolan Batman trilogy. Original Raimi Spider-Man tried, but unravelled completely in the third part. By the time we got to Avengers, the extended universe context made it different.
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I actually can't think of any single storyline movie series that worked to 4+ parts. Things like James Bond are more like sitcoms in that they are episodic stand-alone stories within an unchanging context (though latest Bond thing tried a bit of extended universe long-arc-ing)
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I'll never cease to be impressed by a single human brain grappling with the limits of heterogenous complexity at vast scale, across dozens of modes.
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The key is heterogeneity. The complexity here is arguably of a higher order than of what say a mathematician like Grothendieck wrangled into submission, since that is a kind of cognitive monoculture inside a savant brain. Ditto people who architect say big pieces of software.
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What kind of brain can keep a zillion moving parts of *different types* in its head with auteur rigor like this? Story, vast laboring crew, actors, top creative lieutenants, props, fx tech, capital raising politicking, schmoozing governments, field infrastructure...
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I can keep fairly big piles of ideas and thoughts in my head, but it's... just thoughts, and even with that least forgiving of material, I can't reach these scales of mental heavy lifting. Even with the best project management discipline.
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And note the sheer time pressure. Many CEOs run more complex empire, but they do so one quarter at a time at a steady tempo for years on end, with no definite expectations. This was an intense 438 day heavy lift where 90% of the complexity was being wrangled all at once.
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I'd say during that one core production year, Peter Jackson was probably operating at like 3x Steve Jobs or Musk-level. A one-rep max, but still. I'm surprised he didn't break down into a screaming nutjob by the end of it.
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What's really amazing is that there are people who have both strong artistic vision and integrity AND the ability to command an army to realize it AND aren't complete psychopaths.
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Well, apples to oranges, but (a) they also had to invent a ton of fx techniques and (b) Kubrick was an obsessive planner, so there is a lot of non-obvious complexity in the details.
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