Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis, the dream team behind Forest Gumpreunited nearly three decades later for 2024’s album Here. Despite expectations, star power and the acclaimed director involved, Here Interestingly, it proved to be a huge disappointment at the box office, especially when compared to the Oscar-winning duo’s 1994 cultural phenomenon. Here it’s also unlikely to receive the same critical praise as its predecessor.
Here limped to a nominal $4.8 million opening weekend, light years away Forest Gumpthe impressive $24.5 million debut. As the film clocks in at just $11.4 million in total domestic gross, it’s becoming abundantly clear that this particular collaboration between Hanks and Zemeckis won’t be mentioned in the same breath as their previous box office hits like Castaway (raising US$233 million) and The Polar Express ($183 million). In retrospect, several things caused Here trip so much right at the gate.
Here’s the Disappointing Box Office Performance Compared to Forrest Gump Explained
Here has always faced a monumental challenge in doing justice to the landmark Forrest Gump film
HereThe company’s potentially faulty or non-existent business performance can be attributed to a perfect storm of factors working against it. Most critics gave Here negative reviews, with many finding the film underwhelming given the talent involved. This resulted in a low 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, dampening audience interest. The high-concept premise, involving the main character trapped on a single film set, would likely be a sales challenge that would limit the film’s mainstream appeal. HereThe cerebral and artistic sensibilities of are a far cry from the broadly accessible and crowd-pleasing nature of Forest Gump and other widely known hits from various creatives.
It also cannot be ignored how drastically the film landscape has changed in the 30 years since Forest Gump became a zeitgeist-capturing hit. In the franchise-driven, IP-obsessed environment of modern cinema, a unique and heady drama like Here was bound to face an uphill battle connecting with audiences, especially with no built-in fan base to draw from.
Forrest Gump was a huge success – but technically considered a failure in the 1990s
Accounting complications surrounding Forrest Gump have labeled it a ‘failure’
Don’t be fooled, Forest Gump was an absolute beast at the box office. The film grossed an impressive $330 million domestically, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1994. It also dominated the Oscars, winning six trophies, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Hanks. However, in a shocking example of “Hollywood Accounting“, stated Paramount Pictures Forest Gump lost more than $62 million (via LA Times).
The studio allegedly used cunning accounting tricks to inflate costs and inflate the film’s budget, making it look like Tom Hanks’ beloved film was a money loser. This claim was especially outrageous since Forest Gump was one of the biggest hits of 1994. The studio tried to say it was in the red, even though the film grossed a whopping $677 million worldwide after costing just $55 million to produce – a number that should have meant huge profits for everyone involved in the project.
That is, Winston Groom, who wrote the book Forest Gumpdid not receive any money beyond the first payment of $350,000. His contract said he would receive a portion of the profits after expenses, not the total money the film grossed in theaters. While Forest Gump made so much money, the studio’s complicated math made it look like a failure on paper. Therefore, Groom did not gain anything extra, although his story became one of the biggest cinema successes of all time. This is compared to true box office flops, where it’s much clearer to see a film actually losing money.
Tom Hanks Was a Box Office Draw for Forrest Gump – Is He Still One Now?
Hanks may not be as guaranteed a profit as he was in his Forrest Gump days
Hanks’ incredible star power helped make Forest Gump the huge success it became. Recently won consecutive Oscars for Best Actor for Philadelphia and Forest GumpHanks was once Hollywood’s most bankable leading man. Yet HereThe disappointing box office shows how much times have changed for the beloved actor and the film industry.
The years after Forest Gump saw Hanks continue his streak with massive blows like Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryanand Castaway. His more recent track record tells a different story. While The Da Vinci Code grossed an impressive $217 million domestically, films like Charlie Wilson’s War ($66 million), Larry Crowne ($35 million), and now Here, struggled to find an audience.
While disappointing, the change in Hanks’ box office power is not surprising. Today’s audiences care less about star power, Hollywood makes fewer star-centric films, and at age 66, Hanks has stepped away from traditional leading man roles. With more of his recent projects like World news and Pinocchio going straight to streaming, it’s clear that Hanks’ name alone can no longer fill theaters, especially with challenging films like Here. Still, his status as one of Hollywood’s greatest actors remains untouchable.
Source: LA Times