The Silence of the Lambs backdrop
The Silence of the Lambs movie poster

The Silence of the LambsFollow

1991 • R • 1h 58m • Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller • Orion Pictures

To enter the mind of a killer she must challenge the mind of a madman.

🍅 95% 95% MC 86 LB 4.34 IMDb 8.6

Box office summary

Domestic total
$131.10M
Final
Worldwide total
$273.10M
$142.00M international
Budget$19.0M
1991 rank#4
Compare with other movies

Cast & crew

Full Demme filmography
Jonathan Demme Jonathan Demme Director Jodie Foster Jodie Foster Starring Anthony Hopkins Anthony Hopkins Starring Scott Glenn Scott Glenn Starring Ted Levine Ted Levine Starring
ScreenplayTed Tally Based on the novel byThomas Harris Produced byEdward Saxon, Kenneth Utt, Ron Bozman CinematographyTak Fujimoto Music byHoward Shore StudioOrion Pictures

The run

WkWeekendRankGrossChgTheatersAvgTotal
1 Feb 15-18 Presidents' Day 1 $13.8M — 1,497 $9,196 $13.8M
2 Feb 22-24 1 $11.9M — 1,515 $7,886 $30.9M
3 Mar 1-3 1 $10.6M −11.1% 1,535 $6,916 $45.5M
4 Mar 8-10 1 $8.9M −16.2% 1,586 $5,607 $58.1M
5 Mar 15-17 1 $7.7M −13.9% 1,600 $4,785 $68.9M
6 Mar 22-24 2 $6.7M −12.6% 1,608 $4,159 $78.3M
7 Mar 29-31 2 $5.8M −13.6% 1,616 $3,577 $87.1M
8 Apr 5-7 2 $4.8M −17.6% 1,627 $2,926 $94.4M
9 Apr 12-14 3 $4.1M −12.9% 1,635 $2,536 $100.1M
10 Apr 19-21 4 $3.5M −16.2% 1,642 $2,117 $104.9M
11 Apr 26-28 6 $2.6M −25.5% 1,627 $1,592 $108.7M
12 May 3-5 6 $2.5M −1.9% 1,619 $1,569 $112.2M
13 May 10-12 5 $2.0M −22.7% 1,574 $1,247 $115.1M
14 May 17-19 7 $1.9M −4.7% 1,444 $1,295 $117.8M
15 May 24-27 Memorial Day 13 $1.3M — 883 $1,463 $119.8M
16 May 31-Jun 2 14 $1.0M — 987 $1,052 $121.2M
17 Jun 7-9 12 $735.3K −29.2% 835 $880 $122.5M
18 Jun 14-16 13 $726.5K −1.2% 803 $904 $123.7M
19 Jun 21-23 13 $722.4K −0.6% 672 $1,074 $124.9M
20 Jun 28-30 13 $538.2K −25.5% 579 $929 $125.9M
21 Jul 5-7 13 $496.2K −7.8% 460 $1,078 $126.7M
22 Jul 12-14 15 $363.1K −26.8% 400 $907 $127.3M
23 Jul 19-21 15 $313.3K −13.7% 334 $937 $127.9M
24 Jul 26-28 16 $295.9K −5.5% 276 $1,072 $128.5M
25 Aug 2-4 19 $280.7K −5.1% 254 $1,105 $129.0M
26 Aug 9-11 21 $189.5K −32.5% 200 $947 $129.4M
27 Aug 16-18 20 $174.6K −7.9% 166 $1,051 $129.7M
28 Aug 23-25 19 $105.5K −39.6% 124 $850 $130.0M
29 Aug 30-Sep 2 Labor Day 21 $116.1K — 130 $893 $130.2M
30 Sep 6-8 15 $92.8K — 121 $766 $130.3M
31 Sep 13-15 14 $87.8K −5.3% 123 $714 $130.4M
32 Sep 20-22 17 $73.4K −16.5% 123 $596 $130.5M
33 Sep 27-29 15 $55.5K −24.4% 108 $513 $130.6M
34 Oct 4-6 21 $57.3K +3.3% 66 $867 $130.7M
Charts show the first 10 weeks · the run above is the full record
Weekend grossWk 10 · $3.5M
$13.8M
$11.9M
$10.6M
$8.9M
$7.7M
$6.7M
$5.8M
$4.8M
$4.1M
$3.5M
W1W2W3W4W5W6W7W8W9W10
Weekend-over-weekend dropWk 10 · −16.2%
−11.1%
W2→3
−16.2%
W3→4
−13.9%
W4→5
−12.6%
W5→6
−13.6%
W6→7
−17.6%
W7→8
−12.9%
W8→9
−16.2%
W9→10
Steepest −17.6%Best hold −11.1%

Profitability

Return on Budget
Theatrical breakeven point is approx. 2.5x production budget

Domestic vs International Split

Similar movies

Red Dragon 2002 · Ratner $93.1M Philadelphia 1993 · Demme $77.4M Hannibal 2001 · Scott $165M Training Day 2001 · Fuqua $76.6M Panic Room 2002 · Fincher $96.4M The Manchurian Candidate 2004 · Demme $66M

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