Hannibal TV Series: How the Show Fits the Films

Manhunter (1986) and Red Dragon (2002) are two film adaptations of the same story, and they are the two film versions of the Will Graham case. In Manhunter, William L. Petersen plays Will Graham, Brian Cox plays Dr. Hannibal Lecktor and Tom Noonan plays Francis Dollarhyde. In Red Dragon, Edward Norton plays Graham, Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter and Ralph Fiennes plays Francis Dolarhyde.

Both films follow Graham as a retired profiler pulled back by Jack Crawford to hunt a killer who targets families under a full moon. Both include a prison visit to Lecter, who secretly passes the killer messages. The killer works at a film processing lab in Manhunter and at a company with film processing access in Red Dragon, and in both he starts a gentle relationship with a blind coworker, Reba McClane, while his violent side pulls the other way.

The endings differ. In Manhunter, Graham traces the killer to his house and a shootout leaves Dollarhyde dead and Reba rescued. In Red Dragon, Dolarhyde fakes his death, finds the Graham family in Florida and holds Josh at gunpoint, and Molly Graham shoots him. Red Dragon then closes on Dr. Chilton telling Lecter that a young FBI trainee has come to see him, which sets up The Silence of the Lambs. Read the manhunter 1986 and red dragon 2002 pages for the details, and see francis dolarhyde for the killer.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is the second film in release order, and it follows trainee Clarice Starling as she questions the imprisoned psychiatrist to profile the killer called Buffalo Bill. Lecter trades hints for stories from her past, including a childhood memory of lambs on a farm, while the abduction of Senator Ruth Martin's daughter Catherine raises the pressure.

Lecter is moved to Memphis, where he escapes by killing his guards. Starling works out on her own that the killer is Jame Gumb, finds Catherine in a pit in his basement, and shoots Gumb in the dark after he stalks her with night vision goggles. At her FBI graduation party, Lecter calls from abroad and says he is going to have an old friend for dinner, then follows Dr. Chilton.

The film has a composer, Howard Shore, and two notable songs, Hip Priest by The Fall and Goodbye Horses by Q Lazzarus. For more, see the silence of the lambs, buffalo bill silence of the lambs and jack crawford silence of the lambs.

Hannibal (2001) is the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, with Anthony Hopkins returning as Lecter and Julianne Moore as Starling. Ten years on, Starling is blamed for a drug raid that goes wrong, while Lecter lives in Florence as a scholar under a false name. Mason Verger, the disfigured survivor of an attack by Lecter, offers a reward for his capture, and Inspector Renaldo Pazzi works out who the scholar really is.

Lecter kills Pazzi, Verger's men seize him, and Starling follows the trail to Verger's estate. Verger meets his end among the wild boars he keeps. Lecter then invites Starling's corrupt superior Paul Krendler to a dinner that ends in a grim scene involving his own brain. The final confrontation has Lecter handcuffed to Starling and threatening her wrist with a cleaver, before the film cuts to Starling safe with both hands intact and Lecter gone. He is last seen on a plane, sharing a bite of food with a boy.

The film earned $352 million worldwide on an $87 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. See hannibal 2001 and mason verger.

Hannibal Rising (2007) is the prequel, and its story takes place before every other film. Gaspard Ulliel plays Hannibal, Aaran Thomas plays him as a boy and Gong Li plays his aunt, Lady Murasaki.

The story begins in 1944 Lithuania, where the Lecter family flees to a hunting lodge. A Soviet tank wrecks the lodge, and looters led by Vladis Grutas take shelter there. Hannibal's little sister Mischa does not survive the winter. After the war, Hannibal escapes the orphanage that was once his family castle, travels to Paris and is taken in by Lady Murasaki, who teaches him Japanese culture and swordsmanship.

He then becomes the youngest student admitted to medical school in France and hunts the men responsible for Mischa's death one by one, ending with Grutas on a houseboat and Bronys Grentz in Saskatchewan. It is the lowest earner of the four main films, with $82.2 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo, on a $50 million budget according to The Numbers. See hannibal rising.