The Library of Congress has released this year’s selections for the National Film Registry, and frankly, Disney fans might be left wanting a bit more.
What’s Happening:
- Twenty-five films have been selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2024 due to their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.
- It’s something that happens every year, and this year’s selections date back nearly 130 years and include a diverse group of films, filmmakers and Hollywood landmarks.
- The selections span from a silent film created to entice audiences at the dawn of cinema in 1895 to the newest selected film from 2010, a drama about social media.
- For the readers of our site, who tend to skew a bit more in favor of what Disney titles can be found each year when the films are selected, they may be left wanting a bit more. In the last few years, big titles like Lady & the Tramp, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Pixar’s WALL-E, and Fox’s Home Alone were selected for preservation. This year, however, has no titles from that realm.
- Popular Hollywood releases selected this year include the first Star Trek film added to the registry with 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as well as Eddie Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop.
- The selections bring the number of titles in the registry to 900. Some films are among the 2 million moving image collection items held in the Library of Congress. Others are preserved in coordination with copyright holders or other film archives.
- Of the 25 titles announced for preservation, only one has a Disney connection: Invaders From Mars (1953). The connection? That the independent production was released by 20th Century Fox.
- A product of the 1950s, which arguably produced the most classic science fiction films, and fed by post-World War II paranoia over the hydrogen bomb, rapid technological change, fear of Soviet expansion and Communist infiltration of American society, Invaders From Mars was directed by William Cameron Menzies with cinematography by John Seitz. Featuring stunning sets and photography in Supercinecolor, this indie classic helped create the visual language of science fiction cinema and was a significant entry in the canon of ‘post-war paranoia’ cinema. Later films, ranging from Star Trek to Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant to Invasion of the Body Snatchers have all been thematically inspired by this film.
- Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will host a television special Wednesday, Dec. 18, starting at 8 p.m. ET to screen a selection of films named to the registry this year.
- You can check out Invaders From Mars, streaming now on Tubi.
Films Selected for the 2024 National Film Registry:
- Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895)
- KoKo’s Earth Control (1928)
- Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
- Pride of the Yankees (1942)
- Invaders from Mars (1953)
- The Miracle Worker (1962)
- The Chelsea Girls (1966)
- Ganja and Hess (1973)
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
- Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
- Zora Lathan Student Films (1975-76)
- Up in Smoke (1978)
- Will (1981)
- Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (1982)
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
- Dirty Dancing (1987)
- Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
- Powwow Highway (1989)
- My Own Private Idaho (1991)
- American Me (1992)
- Mi Familia (1995)
- Compensation (1999)
- Spy Kids (2001)
- No Country for Old Men (2007)
- The Social Network (2010)
What They’re Saying:
- TCM Host and Film Historian Jacqueline Stewart: “The National Film Registry now includes 900 titles, and what's remarkable to me is that every year when the board talks about films and their significance, we find new titles to consider. The wealth of American film history is sometimes rather overwhelming, and people often wonder: how do you recommend this film or that film? It's through a lot of research, conversation and discussion, and it's through a commitment to showing the true diversity of filmmaking. I'm thrilled that we recognize student films and independent films, animation, documentary and experimental works, as well as feature length narrative drama, comedy, horror and science fiction on the registry this year.”
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