Poster © 20th Century Fox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreComedy, Drama & Fantasy
RatedNot Rated
Runtime1 hr 44 mins
ReleasedJune 3, 1988
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorPenny Marshall
StarringTom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
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Big (1988)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Big's Details | |
| Genre | Comedy, Drama & Fantasy |
| Rated | Not Rated |
| Released | 06/03/1988 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 44 mins |
| Budget | $18M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Big's Interests | |
| General | Zoltar machines, floor pianos, trampolines, bunk beds, toy pitches, baby corn eaten the wrong way. |
| Music | Howard Shore, years before Middle-earth. "Heart and Soul" on a floor piano steals the show. |
| Movies | 13 Going on 30 (2004). Same wish, new decade. Freaky Friday (2003), same chaos. |
| Television | Saturday morning cartoons. Josh calls it market research. |
| Heroes | Billy. The best friend who handled a full identity crisis like a pro. |
| Big's Crew | |
| Director | Penny Marshall |
| Writers | Gary Ross, Anne Spielberg |
| Producers | James L. Brooks, Robert Greenhut |
| Cinematography | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Music | Howard Shore |
| Edited By | Barry Malkin |
| Production | Gracie Films |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
Tom Hanks nibbles a baby corn like a full ear at a fancy party, row by row, and that one bit explains why Big works. He doesn’t play a kid. He plays a kid working very hard to act like an adult and missing the cues by a mile. Penny Marshall keeps the magic simple: one wish, one fortune machine, one scared boy alone in a grim New York hotel on his first night. That scene is the real heart of the movie, and it’s genuinely sad. Robert Loggia is wonderful as the toy boss who’d rather play than read sales charts, and their duet on the floor piano is pure joy. Jared Rushton’s Billy is the best friend everyone needed. The weak spot is the romance with Elizabeth Perkins’ Susan, which gets awkward fast once you remember who’s really inside that suit. Critics gave it 98%. An 8.3 because Hanks makes a silly wish feel completely real. $13.14 says you pass a fortune-teller machine on the next boardwalk you visit and walk a little faster.
What works: Tom Hanks nails the body language of a kid in a grown-up’s world, and the floor piano scene is pure joy.
What doesn’t: The romance with Susan feels uncomfortable now, since the movie never fully deals with who Josh really is.
Who it’s for: Families, and anyone who ever wished they could skip ahead to being a grown-up.
Spoilers
Josh tracks down Zoltar again and wishes to be a kid, and Susan finally realizes he was telling the truth all along. She drives him home, and he walks up the street a boy again, swimming in his grown-up suit, back to his mom and Billy.
Josh Baskin (David Moscow, then Tom Hanks) gets turned away from a carnival ride for being too short. So he feeds a coin into Zoltar, a spooky fortune-teller machine that turns out to be unplugged, and wishes to be big. Next morning he wakes up as a grown man, still a kid inside. His mom thinks he's a stranger, so best friend Billy (Jared Rushton) helps him hide out in New York City while they hunt for the machine. Josh lands a job at a toy company, and owner Mr. MacMillan (Robert Loggia) loves that he actually gets toys. Penny Marshall directs. One hundred four minutes, one giant floor piano.
Anyone who knows where Zoltar went. Also anyone with a trampoline.
| Tom Hanks | Joshua "Josh" Baskin |
| Jared Rushton | William "Billy" Francis Kopecki |
| Elizabeth Perkins | Susan Lawrence |
| Robert Loggia | Mr. MacMillan |
| John Heard | Paul Davenport |
| Jon Lovitz | Scott Brennen |
| Mercedes Ruehl | Mrs. Baskin |
| Harvey Miller | David |
| Debra Jo Rupp | Miss Patterson |
| Josh Clark | Mr. Baskin |
| Paul Herman | Schizo |
| Peter McRobbie | Executive #3 |
| Kimberlee M. Davis | Cynthia Benson |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $151.9M; Domestic box office $115.2M; Opening weekend $8.2M; Profit / loss (est.) +$49M; Rotten Tomatoes 98%; CinemaScore A; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 98% (81 reviews); Metacritic 73 / 100; CinemaScore A; IMDb users 7.3 / 10 (264,249 votes); movie.guru score 8.6.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.