There wasn't a ton of fanfare for 2007's Hannibal Lecter prequel Hannibal Rising - the consensus among most being that they didn't really care to know about Lecter's upbringing. After all, isn't a mysterious monster so much scarier? The movie was nevertheless based upon a 2006 novel written by Hannibal creator Thomas Harris - albeit a novel which was received with considerably less enthusiasm than any of the three prior Lecter books. The reason for this? Producer Dino De Laurentiis previously produced the very first Hannibal Lecter film, 1986's Manhunter, but after this flopped at the box office, he passed on producing The Silence of the Lambs and allowed Orion to make it for free. This turned out to be quite the shambolic business decision given the movie's phenomenal critical, commercial, and awards success. As a result, Laurentiis ensured he wouldn't make the same mistake again, coming back aboard to produce follow-ups Hannibal and Red Dragon, both of which proved solidly successful. But Laurentiis wasn't ready to stop there, and so approached Harris about writing a prequel book which could be adapted into a movie. When Harris refused, Laurentiis threatened to simply have the film written by somebody else, and so fearing that his creation would be taken out of his hands, agreed to write what would become Hannibal Rising. Ultimately it received by far the worst reviews of the series and was the first Hannibal Lecter movie to flop at the box office since Manhunter.