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 one of the defining box office successes of its decade, sweeping the Academy Awards including Best Picture and cementing Tom Hanks as a leading man of extraordinary range. The film's blend of historical pastiche, sentiment, and technical innovation in blending its star with archival footage made it a cultural touchstone, quoted and referenced for decades afterward. Its warmth and episodic structure, following one man through the sweep of American history, gave it staying power well beyond typical awards fare.
This cell centers on Mrs. Gump, the mother whose voice and philosophy shape Forrest from childhood onward. She is a figure collectors seek out precisely because her presence, though limited in screen time compared to the protagonist, carries outsized narrative weight, delivering the film's most enduring lines about life and chance. A single frame bearing her name offers a piece of that maternal thread running beneath the larger story, a quieter counterpart to the more famous images of Forrest himself, valuable to those building out a fuller picture of the ensemble around him.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical 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 torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern; a thin blue line runs adjacent to it, consistent with a Dolby encoded 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-tan; dye image shows natural colour balance with no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, 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 shot, consistent with a release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track with apparent Dolby encoding, warm polyester-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 000063993
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
