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
Released by Paramount Pictures in the summer of 1994, Forrest Gump became one of the defining American films of its decade, sweeping the Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it blended sweeping historical pastiche with an intimate character study, marrying groundbreaking visual effects to a sincere, folkloric tone. Its massive box office success and cultural saturation, from catchphrases to soundtrack staples, cemented it as a touchstone of nineties cinema, still widely referenced and revisited today.
This cell centers on Mrs. Gump, Forrest's mother, played by Sally Field, whose steady wisdom and devotion shape the film's emotional foundation. She is the source of many of the story's most quoted lines, the one who teaches Forrest how to see the world plainly and kindly. Collectors seek her out because she anchors the film's heart before Forrest ever leaves home, representing the origin point of his outlook on life. A cell bearing her name preserves that formative presence, a single frame excerpted from the reel itself rather than a poster or promotional reproduction.
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 complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern with a blue-tinted stripe adjacent to it, consistent with a Dolby Stereo SR optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base appears warm-amber to golden-yellow, typical of a colour print stock; dye image shows warm tones with no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible splices or cue marks; light longitudinal lines are present on the base side, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track with blue SR stripe, warm amber base stock, and colour dye image are all consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print.
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 000063992
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
