Big Shrimpin': The Runaway Success of 'Forrest Gump,' by the Numbers
Forrest Gump — the Oscar-winning, catchphrase-coining, culturally divisive box-office hit — turns 20 years old this weekend. To celebrate, we broke down the film (and its impact) by the numbers:
Number of hours it took Tom Hanks to agree to the part after reading the script: 1.5.
Number of different blue checkered shirts Forrest wears: Approximately 15.
Number of chocolates in Forrest’s box of Russell Stover’s: 34.
Length of Forrest’s run across America: 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours.
Current price of a pair of Forrest’s favorite running shoes, the Nike Cortez: $59.99.
Age difference between Hanks and Sally Field, who played Forrest’s mother: 10 years.
Number of times Forrest says “Mama”: About 30.
Number of times Forrest says “Jenny”: About 30 (He loves them equally!)
Number of times Bubba says “shrimp” in his first three minutes on-screen: 21.
Number of handmade Forrest Gump-inspired items we found on sale this week: 175.
Age of Haley Joel Osment when he played Forrest Junior: 5 years old.
Number of songs by the Doors in the film’s end credits: 5.
Number of visual-effects shots: 120, including the famous feather.
Number of U.S. presidents Forrest meets in the film: 3.
Number of weeks Forrest Gump ran in theaters: 42.
Forrest Gump‘s worldwide box-office take: $677.4 million.
Number of copies Forrest Gump sold on home video within two months of release: Nearly 10 million.
Number of Oscars won by Forrest Gump: 6, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
Number of copies the Gump soundtrack sold in the U.S.: 6 million.
Number of actual U.S. table-tennis Olympic medals in real life: 0.
Number of Bubba Gump restaurants worldwide: 41.
Number of years Gary Sinese and the Lt. Dan Band have been playing: 11.
Number of times you’ve heard someone repeat the phrase “Life is like a box of chocolates” in the last two decades: Approximately 1.4 million.
Photo credits: Paramount Pictures, Nike, running GIF by Paul Rosales, from Etsy - 420DesignZ,EmmaButlerDesign,ArkieStyle, Bibliocouture, from Art Fire - DesignsByDebi
