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, adapting Winston Groom's novel into a sweeping, decade-spanning portrait of one man's unlikely path through American history. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and anchored by Tom Hanks in the title role, the film swept the Academy Awards and became a cultural touchstone, its lines and imagery absorbed into everyday reference. Its blend of technical innovation, sincerity, and box office dominance made it one of the defining studio releases of its decade.
This cell centers on Forrest Gump himself, the gentle, guileless narrator whose voice carries the entire picture. Collectors seek his image because he is the emotional throughline of the film, the figure through whom war, politics, and personal loss all pass. A single 35mm frame of Forrest represents the character study at the heart of the story, a quiet artifact of the performance that made the role iconic.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Forrest Gump (1994).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-band waveform consistent with a stereo variable-area optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at the resolution shown.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; the dye image shows full colour saturation with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks, or prominent scratches are visible in this capture.
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 variable-area optical track alongside a colour positive 35mm print is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1994 release period of the film on record.
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 000064030
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
