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 in the summer of 1994 from Paramount Pictures, directed by Robert Zemeckis and adapted from Winston Groom's novel. Built around Tom Hanks's Academy Award winning performance, it became one of the era's defining box office successes and a cultural touchstone, sweeping the Oscars including Best Picture. Its blend of historical pastiche, sentiment, and technical innovation in visual effects made it a landmark of nineties studio filmmaking, and the film remains a fixture of home video and revival screenings, ensuring steady collector interest in its physical film artifacts decades later.
This cell centers on Forrest and Jenny, the two figures whose intertwined lives form the emotional spine of the picture. Forrest, the guileless narrator whose journey touches every major event of postwar America, and Jenny, his lifelong counterpoint, represent the film's central relationship, one collectors often seek above any single set piece or line reading. A cell bearing both names points to a shared scene, a moment where their paths cross rather than diverge. As a piece of 35mm film, it preserves an actual frame projected in theaters, a tangible fragment of the story these two characters carry together.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames and one partial frame.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even and the punched holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a mono or stereo optical print.
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 color print stock; dye image appears saturated with no obvious fading.
Projection history
A horizontal blue-tinted band runs across the lower portion of the strip, suggesting a splice or chemical artifact; no obvious deep scratches are visible.
Picture
Positive color image; two frames appear to be consecutive shots of the same subject and one frame shows a different scene, consistent with a theatrical release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Era check
The variable-area optical track, warm amber base, and saturated color dye layers 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 000064013
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
