Morgan Freeman Thanks Fans for Making Shawshank Redemption 'One of the Most Beloved Movies'

Los Angeles: On the 26th anniversary of “Shawshank Redemption”, veteran Hollywood star Morgan Freeman has expressed his gratitude to fans for making the film, which had flopped at the box office when it released in 1994, one of the “most beloved movies of all time”. Freeman had featured opposite Tim Robbins in the Frank Darabont-directed prison break drama movie. Though the film was universally lauded by the critics, it could only rake in USD 58 million. The story follows a banker, Andy Dufresne (Robbins), who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis “Red” Redding, played by Morgan.

Over the years, the film has come to be regarded as a cult classic, especially for the performances of Freeman and Robbins, its message of hope and the twist ending. Taking to Instagram, the 83-year-old veteran asked his fans to share their favourite quotes from the film.

“It has been 26 years since#ShawshankRedemptioncame out in theatres and I’m still thankful to everyone who made our box office flop one of the most beloved movies of all time. “Share your favourite movie quotes with me, mine is, ‘I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope’,” Freeman wrote. Meanwhile, the actor is set to star in a non-fiction series, tentatively titled “Great Escapes With Morgan Freeman” for History Channel.

The six-episode show, which Freeman will also produce, will look back at the biggest jailbreaks from some of the most notorious prisons in the world. Each episode will feature dramatic recreations and cutting-edge visual effects, unearthing every step of an inmate’s meticulous plan, their escape route and the intense manhunt that followed.

“I’ve been inside the minds of prisoners in my acting career, and I’m looking forward to stepping inside the most notorious prisons in the world, like Alcatraz, Sing Sing, Riker’s Island and Leavenworth. “Audiences will feel like they’re making the escapes themselves as I walk them into a virtual world and through the greatest escapes in history,” Freeman said in a statement from History Channel’s parent company A+E Networks.

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