# Successful prequels in movies (or not) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507 "2006-02-21T18:42:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/21 "2006-02-22T13:31:47Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > …it’s natural to think of Red Dragon as a sequel. Obviously I meant _pre_quel, not sequel. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/22 "2006-02-22T13:32:16Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Indy movies. Did Temple of Doom have any integral plot points or character developments that gave backfilled “Raiders”? Probably the opposite, in Raiders he says something in the bar about not believing in any ‘mumbo-jumbo’ (or similar). Yet in Temple he saw a fair bit of mumbo-jumbo firsthand, IIRC. So what happened to change his mind? ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/23 "2006-02-22T14:28:33Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > “Manhunter”, IIRC, came out as a movie long before “Silence of the Lambs.” So it’s not a prequel. I remember the film vaguely - who was the guy who played Lector? I haven’t actually seen this movie but IIRC it was Brian Dennehy. ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/24 "2006-02-22T14:36:29Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I haven’t actually seen this movie but IIRC it was Brian Dennehy. Actually, Brian Cox. It’s not bad at all and the Criterion Collection version is really nice. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/25 "2006-02-22T14:37:46Z")
> [@](#): > > I haven’t actually seen this movie but IIRC it was Brian Dennehy. Wrong Brian – it was Brian Cox, who did a great job. The mind boggles at the image of a huge cuddly-bear Hannibal Lecter played by Dennehy. ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/26 "2006-02-22T14:44:22Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I haven’t actually seen this movie but IIRC it was Brian Dennehy. Nope- [Brian Cox](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004051/) - he was in The Ring, Troy, The Bourne Supremacy, etc. Excellent actor, and I thought he did a very good job as Lector. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/27 "2006-02-22T14:48:29Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I haven’t actually seen this movie but IIRC it was Brian Dennehy. No, Brian Cox played MANHUNTER’s Lecter, who was a college prof who preyed on coeds, not a supergenius cannibal psychiatrist. And novelistically, the order of writing & chronology are RED DRAGON, SILENCE and HANNIBAL, with the upcoming BEFORE THE MASK preceding RED. Also, C.S. Lewis’s THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW has never been filmed, nor has A HORSE AND HIS BOY or THE LAST BATTLE. The BBC stopped with THE SILVER CHAIR. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/28 "2006-02-22T19:25:16Z")
> [@Nature's Call](#): > > **Superdude** and **Scupper** - It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Indy movies. Did Temple of Doom have any integral plot points or character developments that gave backfilled “Raiders”? I know the third one with Sean Connery explained through flashback why Indy hates snakes. Aside from the character of Indiana Jones, the fact that they don’t overlap chronologically, and a few rehashed jokes, there is zero continuty between _ **Raiders of the Lost Ark** _ and _ **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** _. _ **Raiders** _ takes place in 1936. _ **ToD** _ takes place in 1934. _ **Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade** _ takes place in 1938. [BoxOfficeMojo.com](http://BoxOfficeMojo.com) lists _ **ToD** _ with a budget of $28 million and a worldwide lifetime gross of $333,107,271. _ **Raiders** _, budgeted at $18 million, grossed $384,140,454. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/29 "2006-02-22T19:35:59Z")
Regarding _ **Manhunter** _, the Wikipedia entry for the film asserts that the name was changed due to the box office failure of _ **Year of the Dragon** _. Michael Mann also apparently feared it would be mistaken for a martial arts film due to the title. Strangely enough, considering some earlier comments about the actor playing Lecter, they also list this bit of trivia: > [@](#): > > According to an interview with Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Mandy Patinkin, and **Brian Dennehy** were all considered for the role of Hannibal Lecktor before Cox himself was cast. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/30 "2006-02-22T20:33:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The mind boggles at the image of a huge cuddly-bear Hannibal Lecter played by Dennehy. Now that’s a mental image I don’t need. Dennehy as Lector delivers the fava bean line, then pulls down the corner of his eye and light twinkles out. :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/31 "2006-02-23T00:31:48Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I haven’t actually seen this movie but IIRC it was Brian Dennehy. I hate to break this to you, but it was Brian Cox. Brian Dennehy _was_ considered for the role, but only once. For 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/32 "2006-02-23T12:25:45Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > I hate to break this to you, but it was Brian Cox. > > Brian Dennehy _was_ considered for the role, but only once. For 20 minutes. Let’s not turn this into another 1920’s style death ray fiasco now… I stand humbly corrected. The dope fights my ignorance once again. :o ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507/33 "2006-02-23T15:34:12Z")
_In The Beginning_ had a prequel story to _Babylon 5_ framed inside a story that was a sequel to (most of) the series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/successful-prequels-in-movies-or-not/345507.md?page=1)