Hannibal Lecter Movies In Order

Almost everyone is familiar with Hannibal Lecter series. This franchise is so deeply engrained into popular culture that this famous serial killer is a household name. This movie, like most has its origins in a book series, and has since went on to dominate the big screen, TV, and more. With five movies, and an ongoing TV series, this successful franchise is here to stay. The most recognizable movie that the Hannibal character played in was The Silence of the Lambs. Produced in 1991, this film was wildly successful with almost 300 million at the box office. Not bad for a budget of under 20 million!

Like with almost any series, die-hard fans all have their own order of watching these movies. That’s because Hannibal Rising is actually a prequel even though it came out later. However, I wouldn’t sweat it, watch the Hannibal movies in order. Don’t try and overthink the whole prequel thing, watch them in the order they were meant to be seen: chronologically by release date. Many people (Star Wars fans I’m looking at you) get all caught up in how the films should be seen. Don’t over complicate things!

The Hannibal Lecter series has been very profitable over the last 30 years. The initial film, Manhunter in 1986 was the only one in the series not to do so well. In fact, it lost around 7 million dollars after it was released. However, thankfully the owners of the franchise decided to stick with the idea and released The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. With a new writer and director, this release would go on to become one of the most notable movies in the entire series. Almost all fans unanimously agree that this is the best flick in the series. Critics agree, ranking it higher than any other release.

Movie Order	Trailers
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Manhunter (1986)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Hannibal (2001)
Red Dragon (2002)
Hannibal Rising (2007)

Along with movies, Hannibal has an entire novel series that precedes the films. Most of the movies closely follow the novels, many of which even have the same names. The biggest differences between film and book is the order in which they were released. Red Dragon was the first book to be released while Manhunter was the first movie to be released. It can all get a bit confusing, but like I said earlier watching them by release date is how to do it.

The Hannibal movie series is among some of the best the horror and thriller genre have to offer. This highly intelligent serial killer has earned himself a spot among the best to hit the big screen. With the continued success in both TV and the movies, this household name isn’t going anywhere soon.