Sam Raimi’s third Evil Dead film, Army of Darkness, saw its theatrical release delayed due to an unlikely suspect: cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter. Ash Williams (played by Bruce Campbell), the egotistical but surprisingly competent demon-slaying hero of the Evil Dead franchise, is a certified horror icon. The same can be said for Dr. Hannibal Lecter, as played by several actors, but most notably in three films by Anthony Hopkins. Despite their iconic status though, one would never expect the two characters to cross paths.
While that didn’t happen, at least not exactly, Hollywood’s corporate forces sometimes behave in strange ways. Case in point, sometimes producers and rights holders play hardball over control of a potential film project, and sometimes that leads to other projects suffering as a result. It’s not fair, and it’s probably not right, but Hollywood is a business above all else, even if the art they ultimately produce helps power the mainstream of pop culture.
In the case of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness, the film’s release ended up being greatly delayed due to a corporate fight between two studios, all revolving around Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter. Not so groovy.
How Army Of Darkness Got Delayed By Hannibal Lecter
Army of Darkness was produced by Dino De Laurentiis Communications, as well as Sam Raimi’s own Renaissance Pictures company. Veteran producer De Laurentiis allowed Raimi and crew to make the film they wanted to make, but once things got to the post-production stage, distributor Universal Pictures got much more hands-on. The studio didn’t like Raimi’s original downbeat ending, and demanded a happier one be shot. They also insisted on more reshoots later. At a certain point, Raimi needed more money to complete the film, about $3 million worth.
This is where things got stupid. Universal was currently in a dispute with De Laurentiis over the rights to the Hannibal Lecter character, as they wanted to make a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, which had won lots of Oscars and become a smash hit. De Laurentiis had controlled the film rights to Lecter since 1986’s Manhunter, and had made the not too financially bright decision to let Orion Pictures use the character for free when making Silence of the Lambs, and not be at all involved in the production. Now that Lecter was a cash cow, De Laurentiis wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
Universal wanted the rights to use Hannibal Lecter, and Dino De Laurentiis wanted lots of money for those rights. As a result, Universal refused to give Raimi the money he needed to finish Army of Darkness until De Laurentiis came to terms with them on Hannibal. This caused Army of Darkness’ release date to be delayed from summer 1992 all the way to February 1993, while this unrelated spat was worked out. Releasing in February, the film was a box office dud, and while it’s not certain Raimi’s threequel would’ve fared better in the summer, we can never know for sure. Universal eventually did produce a Hannibal Lecter sequel, but not until nearly a decade later, in 2001.
More: All The Evil Dead Movies Ranked, Worst To Best
