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. Anchored by Tom Hanks in the title role, the film swept the Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, while its blend of folksy narration and digitally inserted historical footage redefined what studio filmmaking could accomplish. Decades later it remains a touchstone of nineties cinema, endlessly quoted and referenced, its box of chocolates philosophy embedded in popular culture.
This cell centers on Forrest Gump himself, the gentle, guileless narrator whose journey through decades of American life gives the picture its shape and its heart. Collectors seek him out because he is the emotional and narrative core of the entire film, the lens through which every event is filtered. A single frame bearing his presence stands as a piece of that larger story, a fragment of the man whose voice carries the whole picture from beginning to end.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three 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 running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area format; Dolby Digital data blocks are also visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, consistent with a Dolby SR·D combined track.
Edge print
Not clearly legible in this capture due to orientation and resolution; no key numbers or manufacturer text can be quoted with confidence.
Base & colour
Base appears a warm cream-yellow tint typical of acetate or polyester safety stock; dye image reads as warm with no obvious red shift or fading.
Projection history
Light vertical scratches are visible across the frame area, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks seen.
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 combined Dolby SR·D optical track format with variable-area and digital data blocks was standard for major studio release prints from 1992 onward, fully consistent with a 1994 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 000064005
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
