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This year’s Registry announcements are delayed because of the lengthy government shutdown. Robert Newton, the Acting Librarian of Congress in the wake of Carla Hayden’s unceremonious firing from the role, was our opening keynote speaker at the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) conference a couple of weeks ago, and he mentioned this delay had kept him from being able to celebrate this year’s choices at the conference.

Speaking of Carla Hayden, she received a recognition for her work by AMIA at our Archival Screening Night in Baltimore, beautifully given by Jacqueline Stewart, who also read a loving letter celebrating her from Baltimore’s film ambassador John Waters. Hayden received a long and well-deserved standing ovation.

Given what's happened at the Kennedy Center, it's only a matter of time before the Film Registry selections comprise the complete works of Dinesh D'Souza.

This year’s inductees lean heavily modern. Six silents, two 50s’ Bing Crosby musicals (!), and the rest all post-1980:

The Tramp and the Dog (1896)
The Oath of the Sword (1914)
The Maid of McMillan (1916)
The Lady (1925)
Sparrows (1926)
Ten Nights in a Barroom (1926)
White Christmas (1954)
High Society (1956)
Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
Say Amen, Somebody (1982)
The Thing (1982)
The Big Chill (1983)
The Karate Kid (1984)
Glory (1989)
Philadelphia (1993)
Before Sunrise (1995)
Clueless (1995)
The Truman Show (1998)
Frida (2002)
The Hours (2002)
The Incredibles (2004)
The Wrecking Crew (2008)
Inception (2010)
The Loving Story (2011)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Imagine saying to a film critic in the summer of 1982 that one day The Thing would be selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

Clueless makes me happy, but that’s a pretty wretched list. They really need to have consultants who give a damn about animation

Well, I can vouch for High Society and The Hours being bona-fide pieces of shit.

They should've just added the Crosby-Sinatra duet alone to the National Recording Registry.

(Louis Armstrong is awesome too.)

Well, without The Hours we would never have had the classic Adam Buxton music video, so it is important for that aspect alone.

I mean, I can understand the logic behind The Karate Kid’s inclusion, but John G. Avildsen’s Joe says far more about American society, and it holds up better

I tend to think the more recent films are often designed to be headline-grabbers and the real purpose is to direct people toward interesting stuff from the first half of cinema's history. It is unfortunate that so little experimental work from the last 30 years has been selected--judging from the overall choices you'd think that kind of thing nearly died out in the late 1980s.

This is apropos of nothing, but I find it surprising that not a single Tim Burton-directed film has ever made the list. The closest is the Burton-produced Nightmare Before Christmas, which of course does have his stamp all over it. But you would think at least his Batman would have made it by now (I’m not fond of the film, but there’s no denying its place in pop culture).

Feego wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 9:52 am This is apropos of nothing, but I find it surprising that not a single Tim Burton-directed film has ever made the list. The closest is the Burton-produced Nightmare Before Christmas, which of course does have his stamp all over it. But you would think at least his Batman would have made it by now (I’m not fond of the film, but there’s no denying its place in pop culture).

He’s definitely among the biggest living omissions alongside Paul Verhoeven, Joe Dante, and David Mamet (especially as a screenwriter)

beamish14 wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 2:31 pm

Feego wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 9:52 am This is apropos of nothing, but I find it surprising that not a single Tim Burton-directed film has ever made the list. The closest is the Burton-produced Nightmare Before Christmas, which of course does have his stamp all over it. But you would think at least his Batman would have made it by now (I’m not fond of the film, but there’s no denying its place in pop culture).

He’s definitely among the biggest living omissions alongside Paul Verhoeven, Joe Dante, and David Mamet (especially as a screenwriter)

Just purely as a time capsule of post-war Americana, Movie Orgy would be a perfect addition

Mark L. wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 4:25 pm

beamish14 wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 2:31 pm

Feego wrote: Wed Feb 04, 2026 9:52 am This is apropos of nothing, but I find it surprising that not a single Tim Burton-directed film has ever made the list. The closest is the Burton-produced Nightmare Before Christmas, which of course does have his stamp all over it. But you would think at least his Batman would have made it by now (I’m not fond of the film, but there’s no denying its place in pop culture).

He’s definitely among the biggest living omissions alongside Paul Verhoeven, Joe Dante, and David Mamet (especially as a screenwriter)

Just purely as a time capsule of post-war Americana, Movie Orgy would be a perfect addition

I told him that on Twitter many moons ago! I’m just so glad that it’s been preserved for posterity and now accessible to all.

Jon Davison is in the Registry as producer of Airplane!, though, and so is his wife, the great animator Sally Cruikshank