Which 2001 Ridley Scott film is a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs? Hannibal is the sequel. Released in 2001, it continues the story of FBI agent Clarice Starling and the imprisoned-but-escaped cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter.
Anthony Hopkins returned as Lecter, but Jodie Foster did not reprise Clarice Starling; Julianne Moore took over the role. Jonathan Demme, who directed The Silence of the Lambs, also declined to return. Ridley Scott directed the follow-up from a screenplay by David Mamet and Steven Zaillian, adapting Thomas Harris’s 1999 novel Hannibal.
A common mix-up is Red Dragon, another Lecter film featuring Hopkins. Red Dragon is a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs, while Manhunter, released in 1986, is an earlier adaptation of Harris’s novel Red Dragon. The 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs itself is not a sequel; it is the story that Hannibal follows.
Hannibal was commercially successful, earning about $351.6 million worldwide against an $87 million budget, although critics generally found it less acclaimed than its predecessor.