In discussions of the best sequels ever made, a few usual suspects are bound to come up, including The Godfather Part II, Before Sunset, and The Empire Strikes Back. The latter has arguably been the most influential on subsequent blockbuster sequels. Filmmakers acknowledge that the second Godfather movie is a masterpiece, but the direct influence of Empire can be seen in many of today’s blockbuster sequels, from Marvel’s hits to the Star Wars franchise itself.
Just as the original Star Wars movie set a number of trends that continue to influence blockbuster cinema to this day, The Empire Strikes Back laid the groundwork for a successful sequel.
Audiences Had To Be Familiar With The First One
Before The Empire Strikes Back, sequels weren’t so much chapters in an ongoing narrative as they were standalone adventures repeating a rigid formula. The episodic style of the James Bond series was the model for franchises before Empire came along. Viewers who hadn’t seen Dr. No wouldn’t have any problem following Goldfinger.
However, Empire expected audiences to be familiar with the first movie (which was a safe bet, considering it was the highest-grossing movie ever made at the time) and the plot wouldn’t make sense if they weren’t. This is how Marvel gets audiences to watch three movies a year when usually only one of them is really great.
Trilogies Are The Norm
While the Star Wars trilogy wasn’t completed until Return of the Jedi hit theaters, The Empire Strikes Back established the trilogy model. It continued the story threads from the first movie and set the stage for the next movie to be an epic finale that wrapped everything up in a neat bow.
Since Star Wars worked wonders with a three-movie format, trilogies have become the norm for telling multi-part stories on the big screen: The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, Back to the Future, The Godfather, The Evil Dead, Ocean’s Eleven, Madagascar, Men in Black, The Hangover, Taken, Austin Powers, and almost all of Marvel’s franchises (there are four Avengers movies, but Infinity War and Endgame are effectively a two-parter).
Diving Right Into The Action
The first movie of a franchise has the burden of introducing all the characters and explaining the world that they inhabit. With that stuff out of the way, the sequel can dive right into the action. For example, Batman Begins followed the familiar beats of a superhero origin story, then The Dark Knight knocked audiences’ socks off with one of the greatest action movies ever made.
The 1977 Star Wars movie can be seen as an origin story for Luke Skywalker. At the beginning of Empire, Luke has been working with the Rebel Alliance for a couple of years, so the movie can jump right into the action with the Hoth set piece.
Teasing The Big Bad
After Vader mentioned the Emperor that he answers to in the first Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back introduced him via a hologram. He didn’t appear in person until Return of the Jedi, but Empire’s cameo appearance added to his mystique.
There have since been a number of cameos teasing the big bad who will terrorize the heroes later in the franchise’s run, from the Joker card at the end of Batman Begins to The Avengers’ mid-credits Thanos tease.
Setting Up Even More Sequels
In the opening crawl of The Empire Strikes Back, the movie is identified as “Episode V.” This isn’t out of the ordinary today, but this wasn’t a Special Edition addition; it was in the original cut. It confused contemporary fans (at least the ones familiar with Roman numerals) who knew the movie as Star Wars 2. George Lucas confidently labeled The Empire Strikes Back as the fifth movie after deciding it would be the second installment in the second trilogy, two decades before he would actually make the Star Wars prequels.
This telegraphed to audiences that the Star Wars saga would have many future installments, not just the one they’d come to see. From Marvel’s post-credits scenes to the backdoor pilots for spin-offs woven into Fast & Furious movies, today’s sequels are constantly reminding audiences that more are on the way.
A Big Plot Twist
The very nature of sequels means that audiences go in with a certain understanding of what to expect, and it’s the sequel’s near-impossible job to somehow subvert those expectations while satisfying the cravings of each moviegoer’s inner fanboy. One way to pull the rug out from under an audience is to deliver a doozy of a plot twist, like The Empire Strikes Back’s legendary revelation that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father.
It’s now commonplace for sequels to have a big plot twist: the Winter Soldier is Cap’s childhood bestie or Dom Toretto turns on his family or Wolverine meets his long-lost cloned daughter – the list goes on.
Introducing Side Villains
Since the original Star Wars movie’s secondary antagonist Grand Moff Tarkin was killed in the Death Star explosion, Darth Vader is let off the leash in The Empire Strikes Back. In addition to giving Vader more power, the sequel also brings in a couple of side villains like Boba Fett. A bunch of blockbuster sequels have since introduced side villains like The Hobbit trilogy’s Bolg, the Alien franchise’s Neomorphs, and the various Cyberdyne models in the Terminator series. Lucas even influenced himself as he introduced Palpatine’s apprentices in the Star Wars prequels.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy subverts this by introducing new villains as the main antagonists and letting the main antagonists of previous movies blend into Gotham as an auxiliary character.
The Bad Guys Win (For Now)
The most notable thing about The Empire Strikes Back is probably its downer ending. Despite being a crowd-pleasing blockbuster, the heroes are defeated in the finale. But they live to fight another day. As Luke, Leia, and the droids stare out into space, there’s a feeling of hope that they’ll get them in the next movie.
From Voldemort stealing the Elder Wand at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 to Smaug escaping to attack Lake-town in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug to Thanos wiping out half of all life in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, endings in which the bad guys win (at least for the time being) have become common in big franchises.
Cliffhanger Ending
From The Matrix Reloaded to Back to the Future Part II to The Dark Knight to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest to Star Wars’ own The Force Awakens, a lot of sequels have cliffhanger endings that tease the next chapter of the story.
This trend was created by The Empire Strikes Back, which ends with Luke being hopelessly defeated by Vader and Han being frozen in carbonite and shipped off to become a gangster’s wall ornament.
Darker Tone
The most significant influence that The Empire Strikes Back had on sequels is its tone. While it’s still a fun space adventure, Empire is a decidedly darker movie with more shocking violence, harrowing twists, and psychological trauma than its predecessor.
The list of sequels that have followed in Empire’s gloomy footsteps is endless: The Dark Knight, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Lucas even emulated Empire’s darker tone himself when he made Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, although that was technically a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark.