If you want to get all technical about it, Forrest Gump was produced by four individuals—Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey, and Charles Newirth—instead of a single company. But, it was released and distributed by giant Paramount Pictures only a short while after the company had been bought by the giant Viacom corporation.

We imagine Viacom's stockholders were stoked about that deal when Forrest Gump went on to gross $677 million—way, way, way more than the measly $55 million it cost to make. Now, that's what you call a good return on your investment.