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 decade's defining releases, sweeping the Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks, and lodging itself permanently in American popular culture through its blend of historical pastiche, sincerity, and technical innovation in blending live action with archival footage.
This cell centers on Forrest and Bubba, the friendship formed in the Army that anchors much of the film's emotional core. Bubba Blue, played by Mykelti Williamson, is remembered by collectors for his shrimp monologues and the loyalty that shapes Forrest's later life, including the founding of Bubba Gump Shrimp. A frame pairing these two speaks to companionship and shared dreams before the weight of war intervenes, a quiet counterpoint to the film's larger sweep. Such a cell holds appeal for anyone drawn to the bond at the story's heart.
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 frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) variable-area pattern; a dense pixelated data block consistent with Dolby Digital is visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm cream-to-amber tint typical of processed colour print stock; the dye image appears fully saturated with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible splices; faint longitudinal lines consistent with projection contact are present across the frame area.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the setting is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The combination of dual variable-area optical track with Dolby Digital data blocks in the perforation gaps matches the release-print format used for major studio theatrical prints from the mid-1990s, consistent with a 1994 release.
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 000063996
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
