National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2011
“As "Forrest Gump," Tom Hanks portrays an earnest, guileless "everyman" whose open-heartedness and sense of the unexpected unwittingly draws him into some of the most iconic events of the 1960s and 1970s.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Robert Zemeckis
Studio
Paramount Pictures · 142 min
Box office
$678.2M worldwide on a $55M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 6 wins, 13 nominationsNational Board of Review — 2 winsAmanda Award — 1 winAll 9 wins · 13 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Director
Academy Awards: Best Picture
Academy Awards: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Academy Awards: Best Film Editing
Academy Awards: Best Actor
Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects
National Board of Review: Best Film
National Board of Review: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Amanda Award: Best Foreign Feature Film
Scholarship
Named in the title of 31 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Forrest Gump — Iverieli (National Parliamentary Library of Georgia), 2015
Forrest Gump, 2022
Forrest Gump: — State University of New York Press eBooks, 2017
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Forrest Gump arrived from Paramount Pictures in the summer of 1994, directed by Robert Zemeckis and adapted from Winston Groom's novel. It became a defining moment for the studio and for Tom Hanks, who won his second consecutive Academy Award for the role. Blending decades of American history with sweeping technical innovation in visual effects, the film swept the Oscars, including Best Picture, and remains one of the most quoted and revisited films of its decade, beloved for its earnestness and its portrait of an ordinary man moving through extraordinary times.
This cell centers on Forrest Gump himself, the character whose voice and perspective carry the entire film. Collectors seek frames of Forrest because he is the emotional and narrative anchor of the story, the figure through whom the audience experiences war, love, loss, and perseverance. A cell bearing only his presence, without accompanying figures, suggests a moment of narration or quiet reflection, consistent with the film's structure of memory recounted in solitude. It stands as a fragment of the character study at the heart of an American classic.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-track variable-area pattern.
Edge print
Text reading 'SAFETY' is visible along the edge; additional key numbers or codes are not legible at this capture resolution.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint consistent with colour print stock; dye image shows no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks, or prominent scratches are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to show the same or near-identical moment, consistent with a release print matching the film on record.
Era check
The dual variable-area optical soundtrack, colour positive print stock, and 'SAFETY' base designation are all consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063980
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
