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. It swept that year's Academy Awards, taking Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Tom Hanks, and became a cultural touchstone for its blend of American history, sentiment, and technical innovation in blending live action with archival footage. Its earnest, unhurried storytelling made it one of the defining studio releases of the decade, still widely revisited and quoted today.
Forrest Gump #44 preserves a moment centered on Forrest himself, the film's guileless narrator whose journey through decades of upheaval anchors the entire picture. Tom Hanks's performance in the role remains one of the most recognized in American cinema, making any frame bearing his likeness a natural point of collector interest. A cell like this represents a physical fragment of that performance, a tangible link to the character's presence within the story rather than a recreation or reproduction, valued simply for having been part of the actual theatrical print audiences once watched.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour optical 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, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge below the picture area, appearing as two bilateral wavy lines consistent with a stereo variable-area optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base appears warm cream-yellow; dye image shows rich warm tones with no obvious 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 bilateral variable-area optical track, warm polyester-base stock, and colour dye saturation 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 000064040
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
