2025's National Film Registry Additions: From 'White Christmas' to 'Inception'
The National Film Registry has made its annual announement of the 25 films that will be added to the canon to be "preserved for their cinematic and cultural heritage."
Since 1988, the Library of Congress has upheld this tradition, selecting films from all corners of cinema history—although they must be at least ten years old to be eligible.
2025's Registry Honored Some Of The Library's Biggest Blind Spots
The newest entry for last year was Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, which has obvious ties to the Film Registry since the filmmaker used the Library of Congress' extensive collection of photochrom prints to help with the design of the film's miniature sets.
"We made our own versions of things, but much of what is in our film comes directly from that collection from the Library of Congress,” Anderson said in an interview.
The oldest addition to the library this year was The Tramp and the Dog, a silent film from 1896. The film was long believed to be lost before surfacing in the National Library of Norway in 2021.
Several of the registry's titles were voted for by the public. Over 7,000 films were submitted for consideration; the most frequently cited movie was John Carpenter's The Thing, which finally made the cut this year.
Christopher Nolan's genre-defining blockbuster Inception was also honored this year, just five years after the film became eligible for preservation in the registry. It was included thanks to its boundary-pushing special effects and immeasurable impact on pop culture.
And it's not just critical darlings that make it onto the registry - Amy Heckerling's timeless romantic comedy Clueless was also included on this year's list thanks to its enduring fanbase and zeitgeist relevance.
Find the full list of films inducted into the National Film Registry this year below:
- 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)