The iconic Tom Hanks has been a part of many excellent movies across a storied, nearly 50-year career. In that time, the California-born actor has won two Academy Awards, both for Best Actor and, remarkably, in consecutive years. Of the countless iconic directors he has worked with, one of his most frequent collaborators has been Robert Zemeckis, an Academy Award winner himself. Together, the duo have made five movies, with the best coming with their first, Forrest Gump, and their latest, the ambitious Here, perhaps their worst.
Among these five collaborations is just one Christmas movie, the only festive flick Hanks has ever starred in: The Polar Express. At the time of writing, The Polar Express is one of the ten most-streamed movies on HBO Max in the U.S., joining the likes of Four Christmasses, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and the chart-topping Elf in bringing the festive spirit to subscribers. A divisive movie praised for its performances and narrative but criticized for the uncanny animation of human characters, The Polar Express earned just 55% from critics on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and a more respectable 64% from audiences, with the consensus reading, “Though the movie is visually stunning overall, the animation for the human characters isn’t lifelike enough, and the story is padded.” A synopsis for the movie reads:
“When a doubting young boy takes a train ride to the North Pole, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who believe.”
‘The Polar Express’ Is One of the Highest-Grossing Christmas Movies Ever
Despite being a popular time of the year to go to the movies, Christmas films often don’t perform at the box office. Thankfully, this wasn’t entirely the case for The Polar Express, a film that is currently the sixth-highest-grossing festive flick of all time. Made for a reported $170 million, the film earned $320 million in global revenue, split between a domestic haul of $196 million and a further $124 million from overseas markets. Although enough to take the film into the list of highest-grossing Christmas movies, it still isn’t enough to consider this ambitious animated project and its eye-watering budget a financial success.
Tom Hanks’ The Polar Express is one of the ten most-streamed movies on HBO Max. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for the latest streaming stories.
Release Date
November 10, 2004
Runtime
100 minutes
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Hero Boy / Father / Conductor / Hobo / Scrooge / Santa Claus
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Leslie Zemeckis
Sister Sarah / Mother
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Nona Gaye
Hero Girl (voice)
