Forrest Gump (1994)
Comedy, Drama, Romance • 2h 22m
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field, Mykelti Williamson, Michael Conner Humphreys, Hanna Hall, Haley Joel Osment, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Rebecca Williams, Bob Penny, Harold G. Herthum, George Kelly, John Randall, Sam Anderson, Margo Moorer, Ione M. Telech, Christine Seabrook, John Worsham, Peter Dobson, Alexander Zemeckis, Logan Livingston Gomez, Ben Waddel, Elizabeth Hanks, Tyler Long, Christopher Jones, Grady Bowman, Kevin Mangan, Fay Genens, Frank Geyer, Rob Landry, Jason McGuire, Pete Auster, Sonny Shroyer, Brett Rice, Ed Davis, Daniel C. Striepeke, Bruce Lucvia, David Brisbin, Kirk Ward, Angela Lomas, Timothy Record, Deborah McTeer, Mark Matheisen, Al Harrington, Jed Gillin, Bob Harks, Don Fischer, Kenneth Bevington, Michael Flannery, Gary Robinson, Marlena Smalls, Kitty K. Green, Afemo Omilami, Matt Wallace, Danté McCarthy, Paulie DiCocco, Mike Jolly, Michael Kemmerling, John Voldstad, Jeffrey Winner, Russ Wilson, Daniel J. Gillooly, Calvin Gadsden, Aaron Izbicki, Michael Burgess, Steven Griffith, Bill Roberson, Michael McFall, Eric Underwood, Steve DeRelian, Byron Minns, Stephen Bridgewater, Bonnie Ann Burgess, Scott Oliver, John William Galt, Hilary Chaplain, Isabel Rose, Jay Ross, Richard D'Alessandro, Dick Stilwell, Kevin Davis, Michael Jace, Geoffrey Blake, Tim Perry, Vanessa Roth, Paul Raczkowski, Valentine, Dick Cavett, Joe Stefanelli, Tiffany Salerno, Marla Sucharetza, Aloysius Gigl, Jack Bowden, Joe Alaskey, Lazarus Jackson, W. Benson Terry, Matt Rebenkoff, Peter Bannon, Joe Washington, Nora Dunfee, Natalie Hendrix Tate, Hallie D'Amore, Jim Hanks, Chiffonye Cobb, Juan Singleton, Bobby Richardson, Michael Mattison, Lenny Herb, Charles Boswell, Timothy McNeil, Lonnie Hamilton, Teresa Denton, Kurt Russell, Mary Ellen Trainor, Robb Skyler, Michael J. Oliver, Bryan Hanna, Greg Brown, Brendan Shanahan, Troy Christian, Jacqueline Lovell, Zach Hanner, Aaron Michael Lacey, William Shipman, Zhuang Zedong, Eric Alan Wendell, George Wallace, John-Michael Steele, John Simmit, Michael Satterfield, Mark A. Rich, Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, Darrell O'Cook, Richard Nixon, Neal MacMillan, Beau Lotterman, Andrew Lepper, John Lennon, Teddy Lane Jr., Conor Kennelly, Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jim Keller, Lyndon B. Johnson, Russ Isles, Bob Hope, John Glenn Harding, Jeanne Hanna, Ellsworth Hanna, Christopher James Hall, Leigh Goodoff, Michael Garvey, Gerald Ford, James Ent, Ryan Duncan, Jim Damron, Darren W. Conrad, John Connally, Dick Clark, Daniel Chamblin, Clint Calvert, Grand L. Bush, Arthur Bremer, Jim Boeke, Keri-Anne Bilotta, Marcus Batton, Beth Aylward, Neil Armstrong, Markus Alexander, Todd Adamson, Rob Adams, Joe Abby
UHD tiers
About the film
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But despite all he has achieved, his one true love eludes him.
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- Alternative Titles
- Forest Gump
Director: Anthony Mann
Criterion 4K Blu-ray, Universal 2008 DVD
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
2008 Universal DVD mono
The mono on the Criterion is severely filtered resulting in it sounding incredibly muffled. It is nearly as filtered as the 2003 original Universal DVD which had extreme filtering and sounds horribly thin. The 2008 DVD remaster and original LaserDisc analog mastering are mostly left alone. The original LD master is from a worn element but otherwise sounds very natural. The 2008 DVD is the highest quality version we have without the heavy filtering and the defects of the LD master. It isn't perfect but easily the best of the main four sources by a dramatic margin.
The existing 4K SDR restoration looks excellent, but the Criterion extras are limited and disappointing. The classic Stewart interview commentary from the LD is ported over but given a new mastering. Compared to past releases it has been very slightly noise reduced.
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Arrow 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray vs Criterion
Three masterings of the original Dolby Stereo SR mix exist: the original Orion video releases, the Criterion (which is from their LD) and the Arrow. All three are excellent with slight mastering differences between them. The original Orion still is probably the one with the most fidelity, the Criterion is the cleanest with a kind of warm feel to it and the Arrow has a bit of both aspects. The Arrow mastering has a tiny almost imperceptible bit of audio bleeding into the surround that isn't on the Criterion. Each has their own pluses and minuses but you can't go wrong with any of them. Whatever you do though: DO NOT WATCH WITH THE 5.1 REMIX. It is another MGM botch job that fundamentally alters the impact of many scenes. It is vastly inferior to the original mix in every way.
Director: Richard Brooks
4K restoration from Original Camera Negative
4K restoration from safety preservation elements
Director: Elaine May
Cinématographe 4K Blu-ray > MoC > Olive Films. From nicolas:
The master is good but it’s not that big an upgrade from the Olive Films disc and Vinegar Syndrome’ encode has some blocky highlights. A shame that they didn’t hire David Mackenzie here.
Cinématographe has unnecessary noise gating not present on the previous releases.
Director: Sidney Lumet
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
1.85:1: Kino Lorber 4K / Capelight 4K
1.66:1: Criterion 4K but low pass filtered
Comparison between the 4Ks, Criterion on the AR choice
Other discs have unnecessary filtering and sound worse, the difference isn't substantial but audible
Director: Dennis Hopper
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
Flicker Alley 4K confirmed for 2027 https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=24404584&postcount=1
MoC audio is better https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=225532&page=3
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Included in the Complete Kubrick box set with FiM encode of the same master from the Universal release without the filtering.
DTS:X mix on Universal 4K Blu-ray most closely approximates original surround mix
Criterion DVD and Universal 4K Blu-ray has additional features not found on the Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Director: Robert Zemeckis
2D version: Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Bros 3D Blu-ray
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Shout! Factory has good PQ, mediocre compression
Director: Robert Zemeckis
2020 Universal 4K Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray > Paramount US and Capelight DE, same black crush on all three but the Arrow is encoded by FiM and has very good new supplements, the Capelight looks slightly low-passed, but in motion it probably looks about the same as the Paramount, see caps comparison for all three.
Arrow and Paramount basically sound the same, the Arrow has a slightly higher bitrate. Capelight is probably the same too but for now it's TBA.
Paramount US 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision
Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray and Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray have MEL Dolby Vision
Paramount 4K Blu-ray Purist choice: Blu-ray
Sources: YouTube (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray new improved master with color grading and slight issues. Blu-ray is old master with original color grading
Blu-ray 5.1
The Paramount 4K Blu-ray has a much better new scan that removes the original extremely dated color grading. This is an improvement on one hand but a definite revisionist change on the other. There is the expected grain management and slight HDR issues in addition to encoding quirks from Paramount. It is a giant improvement over the original Blu-ray but the color change and other issues means that the Blu-ray is one to keep for purists to have the as-is original iteration of the film's presentation. Audio wise the film has been remixed into Atmos but it merely seems like a slightly tweaked and frankly tamed version of the original 5.1. Of the two I prefer the Blu-ray 5.1. The original Blu-ray was Dolby TrueHD and the reissue Blu-ray in the four film Blu-ray collection boxset was DTS-HDMA.
DFIC extensive review: https://youtu.be/evsrJOTIjdA?si=wtdWGxZBfhPYTIeW
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: Terrence Malick
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Lovely underlying remaster by Criterion and Resillion but encode is sadly low-pass filtered by Pixelogic, and even then, the encode is still less than ideal. Still easily obliterates any prior disc release, but certainly wouldn't hurt to have a UK or German label take a crack at this same master.
Director: Peter Faiman
Australia Cut: Australia Fox DVD
International Cut: Paramount Blu-ray
Encore Cut: Germany Winkler Film 4K Blu-ray, censored but good encoding
Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)
US Paramount 4K Blu-ray, is the International US Cut and not the Encore Cut
Australia Cut: Laserdisc
The film exists in three versions:
- the original Australian cut (~104 minutes at 24fps/~100 minutes at 25fps);
- the American/international version (~98 minutes at 24fps/~94 minutes at 25fps) trimming some exposition in the Outback first half of the film and some shorter extensions of a few seconds in the New York section, altering some of the dialogue – including censoring a "fuck" to "screw" – but featuring one additional dialogue extension not in the Australian version (a comparison of the two cuts can be found at Movie Censorship);
- the Australian Encore Cut (~95 minutes at 24fps/~91 minutes at 25fps) which uses the international version source so it already has those alterations but also removes approximately three minutes consisting of parts of two scenes featuring Mick grabbing the crotch of a cross-dressing prostitute and a later sequence when he does the same thing at a party to a woman with a deep voice (a comparison of the international version and the Encore Cut can be found at Movie Censorship).
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Director: Billy Wilder
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Paramount 4K Blu-ray. See caps
HDR/grading: nice, but some blown out
Encoding: inconsistent, smeared motion
DNR: inconsistent, frozen
Old Paramount Blu-ray is arguably a solid alternative choice
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono
Paramount 4K Blu-ray mono is different version of the Blu-ray mono from the same old 2000 DVD transfer.
The 5.1 remix on the 4K Blu-ray is an appalling remix done by going wild with artificially generated stems from Park Road Post who were given the surviving mono to separate. The experience is jarring and fidelity to original mix in terms of level balance, directionality and impact is nonexistent. Not only does this sound painfully weird, but the Paramount mixers then did whatever they wanted in terms of LFE, sound pans and effect changes.
The original mono mix was not restored and still needs it badly. The 4K master is filled with frozen grain examples coming and going plus some HDR issues in addition to the usual Paramount problems. It is simultaneously better and worse than the Blu-ray master.
Director: Robert Altman
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for Dec 2026 release
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