Tom Hanks Reveals the Clever Contract Clause That Earned Him Millions After ‘Forrest Gump’ Was Released

Tom Hanks has shared how a risky decision during the filming of ‘Forrest Gump’ helped him and director Robert Zemeckis make millions. Hanks, who starred in the 1994 film alongside Robin Wright and Gary Sinise, won an Oscar for his role but as he revealed, one iconic scene almost didn’t make it into the movie because the production company, Paramount Pictures, was hesitant to fund it.

The scene where Forrest Gump runs across the United States for over 1,000 days was a major part of the film. Forrest runs through multiple states, covering nearly five times the country, which took a lot of filming across different locations. Hanks and his brother Jim worked hard to make it happen, visiting real spots like Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, where a stretch of road is now called “Forrest Gump Curve.”

However, the production company wasn’t willing to pay for such an expensive scene. So, Hanks and Zemeckis made a bold move—they decided to pay for it themselves. Hanks explained, “We worked out this thing. This is movie economics 101. I said, ‘What do you want to do, Bob?’ He said, ‘I think we should pay for this sequence ourselves. Let’s knock money out of salary and we will pay for it ourselves.’”

They split the cost between them, taking the money out of their own salaries. In return, they made a deal to get that money back later, based on how well the film did at the box office. Hanks said, “We will make them give it back to us on the back end.”

That risk certainly paid off. Forrest Gump became a massive hit, earning over $678 million worldwide (which is about $1.4 billion today). Hanks earned an estimated $60 million from the movie. Looking back on it, Hanks’ grin said it all—his clever gamble turned into millions!

This is not the only financially interesting thing regarding the movie, however. Winston Groom, the author of ‘Forrest Gump,’ was paid $350,000 for the movie rights to his book and had a contract for a 3% share of the film’s net profits.

However, despite the movie being a massive hit, Paramount and the producers claimed the film lost money using a technique called “Hollywood accounting,” so they didn’t pay Groom the promised percentage.

Groom later disputed Paramount’s accounting but eventually settled after receiving an explanation from the studio. Additionally, he signed a seven-figure contract with Paramount for the movie rights to his book ‘Gump & Co.,’ but that film was never made and stayed in development for over a decade. What’s more, Groom wasn’t even acknowledged in the Oscar speeches when the movie won awards, adding to his frustration.

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