Tom Hanks’ $50m movie Here bombs at the box office making just $5m as director reveals reason for flop

Tom Hanks’ $50million new film Here has bombed at the box office – making just $5million in its opening weekend.

Hanks, 68, reunited with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis and co-star Robin Wright, 58, for the film – which covers the events of a single spot of land and its inhabitants well into the future.

However, unlike the acclaimed 1994 classic, Here has failed to ignite at the box office, with Oscar-winner Zemeckis blaming the ‘stressful situation’ of the movie industry.

Sources told Deadline that Here was a shaky bet from the offset, saying all ‘studios passed on the movie at the package stage seeing how it was a risky and difficult movie for broad audiences.’

Here was also made without a domestic distributor in place 

Hanks, 68, reunited with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis (pictured together last month) and co-star Robin Wright, 58, for the film – which covers the events of a single spot of land and its inhabitants well into the future

Zemeckis said: ‘I have to give all the credit to (former Miramax Head) Bill Block who had the courage and had the vision to understand the movie and make it. He’s the one guy who had the conviction to do this. That was fantastic. Thank God that he was there to do it.’

Block left Miramax in October 2023  when Here was ‘close to finished.’ Sony then took on the film in a distribution deal due to its relationship with Hanks on past releases A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and A Man Called Otto.

Zemeckis added: ‘I think the theatrical movie business is in a stressful situation right now.’ 

Here is described on IMDb as ‘a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter, and life.’

The drama film, which is based on the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire, also stars Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Michelle Dockery, Gwilym Lee, and Ophelia Lovibond, among many others.

Rewind to 1994 and Hanks, Wright, Zemeckis and Roth were riding high amid the massive success of Forrest Gump.

The acclaimed film follows the life of Alabama man Forrest Gump (Hanks), who’s mentally and physically challenged, as he experiences many of the most prominent events of the 20th century in the U.S.

Along with Hanks and Wright, the main cast featured the likes of Sally Field, Gary Sinisem Mykelti Williamson and Haley Joel Osment.

However, unlike the acclaimed 1994 classic, Here has failed to ignite at the box office, with Oscar-winner Zemeckis blaming the ‘stressful situation’ of the movie industry

30 years earlier Forrest Gump became a cultural phenomenon, all while grossing $678.2 million art the worldwide box office against a budget of $55 million

The Zemeckis directed film written by Roth went on to become a smash hit with moviegoers and critics alike, grossing $678.2 million art the worldwide box office against a budget of $55 million. 

Among its many accolades were 13 Academy Award nominations, resulting in six wins, including Best Picture, Best Director for Zemeckis, and Best Actor for Hanks.

In December 2011, Forrest Gump became one of the rare films to be selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. 

The Registry said that the film was ‘honored for its technological innovations (the digital insertion of Gump seamlessly into vintage archival footage), its resonance within the culture that has elevated Gump (and what he represents in terms of American innocence) to the status of folk hero, and its attempt to engage both playfully and seriously with contentious aspects of the era’s traumatic history.’