The Library of Congress adds up to 25 new movies to the National Film Registry on an annual basis. In this year as in previous years, the added movies range from features films to documentaries, independent films, and more besides, covering the whole of the United States’s cinematic output. Some of the movies are not so well-known but are nonetheless important enough to warrant inclusion. In contrast, other movies are both important and well-known even in the present.
What New Movies Were Added to the National Film Registry?
For example, one of the new movies added to the National Film Registry is Die Hard, which came out in 1988 but still remains one of the most famous examples of action movies in which the stars face overwhelming odds against them. For proof of the movie’s cultural impact, look no further than the fact that it has spawned a film franchise encompassing five movies so far, while a sixth movie is expected to come out sometime in 2018. Due to Die Hard‘s influence on action movies as a whole, it is no wonder that it managed to make it onto the National Film Registry, thus ensuring that it will be preserved for the sake of future generations who are curious about the development of U.S. cinema.
Another example of the new movies added to the National Film Registry is Titanic, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last month. Even now, Titanic remains one of the most successful movies of all time, which in turn, makes it one of the most impactful movies of all times as well. Of course, the movie has had its fair share of criticism ever since it was released, but considering the sheer number of people who have seen it, its importance in the world of cinema is as huge as its namesake.
Besides these two movies, some of the others added to the National Film Registry might be familiar to interested individuals as well. For example, The Goonies managed to make it in. However, what is particularly interesting is that The Goonies wasn’t the director Richard Donner’s sole movie to make it onto the National Film Registry in 2017, seeing as how Superman managed to make it on as well. With that said, other people might be more interested in the inclusion of Dumbo, which might not be the best remembered Disney movie out there but nonetheless has a spot that is well-deserved. In contrast, other people might be more interested in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, which broke serious boundaries at the time of its release, or perhaps Kirk Douglas’s Spartacus, which was a dramatic retelling of the gladiator’s rise and fall as the leader of a slave rebellion towards the last days of the Roman Republic.
Of course, a fair number of less known movies managed to make it as well, with an excellent example being The Sinking of the Lusitania, which is important but not so well-known in modern times because of its role in convincing the United States to join the First World War. Summed up, the new additions to the National Film Registry encompass both familiar and not so familiar names, but all of them have earned their spots.
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