Devouring the box-office competition this weekend, “Hannibal’s” success as a bloody thriller reflects not just the acceptance of gore in mainstream movies — but a healthy appetite for it.
Opening on 4,900 screens, a record for studio MGM, “Hannibal” banked $58 million this weekend, making it the fourth highest movie opening in history, according to Sunday estimates from the Exhibitor Relations Co. It fell behind all-time opening weekend champ “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, but it easily broke February’s all-time opening record of $34.7 million, which had been held by “Scream 3.” (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text)
With the exception of the teen-driven “Scream” franchise, blockbuster-size opening weekends have been the territory of action-adventure and comedy movies. Rarely do films as blood-drenched as “Hannibal” gain mass appeal. But even 10 years after “Silence of the Lambs'” Oscar-sweep, audiences are still hungry for the cannibalistic charisma of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who was played again by Sir Anthony Hopkins.
But “Hannibal” serves up a much bloodier, more gruesomely explicit sequel. Warning: Readers with weak stomachs and those who haven’t seen the film may want to skip the next three paragraphs, which reveal gory details from the film’s climax.
While much of “Hannibal’s” gore is artfully shot in shadow or implied by director Ridley Scott (“Gladiator,” “Blade Runner”) — the film’s much talked-about finale leaves little to the imagination. As his FBI foil Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore) looks on, the good doctor surgically opens the skull of another FBI agent (Ray Liotta) like a Pez dispenser and feeds his helpless victim the contents — while the man is still alive.
This has prompted some speculation that Lecter’s candle-lit dinner could make some audience members lose their lunch.
“I don’t know if Midwestern America is ready to see Ray Liotta eat his own brain,” said creative director Blair Butler, 23, after seeing the film Friday afternoon.
On the whole, however, most audience members interviewed in Chicago were shocked but not offended or made ill by Lecter’s ghoulish retribution.
Pat Mailey, weekend manager at Loews Cineplex McClurg Court, said she had no complaints in more than 10 screenings, although she did see one woman exit the theater crying. “But most everyone leaves smiling,” Mailey said. “Everyone was thrilled with movie.”
“I didn’t look away” during the dinner scene, said Annie MacConnel, 33, a Chicago office manager. “I thought it was silly.”
Todd McCarthy, chief film critic at the trade publication Variety, wrote a rave review of “Hannibal” and largely agreed with Chicago viewers.
“I think Ridley Scott held back from being anywhere near as gory as he could have been,” he said. “Up until that last scene, I don’t think he pushed the boundaries of NC-17 at all.”
“Hannibal’s” “R” rating didn’t come as a surprise to John McNaughton, director of “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.”
“If you spend enough money and you’re in the Hollywood mainstream, [the ratings board] is going to make allowances,” McNaughton said. In “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” McNaughton pointed out, the villain “reaches inside someone’s chest cavity and pulls out their heart. What did that get — PG?”
McNaughton endured a ratings battle over his 1986 film “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.” Instead of accepting the “commercial kiss of death” with an NC-17 rating, the film was released unrated.
The ratings system “is not a clear-cut measuring stick, and it’s not applied equally and evenly and fairly,” McNaughton said.
Chicago native Stuart Gordon, whose directing credits include the cult splatter film “Re-animator,” suggested that “Hannibal” represents a changing climate not only in Hollywood but among audiences as well.
“If you look at the history of horror movie, you always have to reinvent things that are scary. Each generation has its own set of monsters,” Gordon said.
“If you use [gore], it has to be tied into story and character and used sparingly to have an effect,” Gordon said. “Once you’ve seen pictures of the Kennedy assassination, you know what an exit wound is. You open a copy of Newsweek, and oftentimes there are things that are much more upsetting than anything you’ll ever see in a horror movie. People know more about this stuff, and movies have to reflect that.”
“Hannibal’s” success even gobbled up potential audiences for other films — the sequel grossed more over the weekend than the next 15 movies combined. “The Wedding Planner,” No. 1 for the previous two weekends, slipped to second place with $7.8 million. The weekend’s only other big premiere was the comedy “Saving Silverman,” which opened in third place with $7.4 million.
