The National Film Registry, the United States’ film preservation board, has inducted 25 titles for making the biggest impact for its 2025 round-up, with notable additions including 2010’s Inception, 2004’s The Incredibles, and 1982’s The Thing.
As reported by Gizmodo, these titles were selected based on “their cultural, historic, or aesthetic importance,” with the National Film Preservation Board’s website also listing brief descriptions of many of its inducted titles and why they were chosen.
Inception, for example, marks filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s first film to be added to the list, as is described as offering “a meditation on how dreams influence identity, and it resonates deeply in an age of digital simulation”, while The Incredibles was noted for being the first Pixar film helmed by an outside director, Brad Bird, and praised for its lasting legacy, including a 2018 sequel, video games and countless merchandise.
The National Film Registry’s 2025 list of added films spans old silent films of the late 1800s, like 1896’s The Tramp and the Dog, to pop culture icons like 1984’s The Karate Kid and 1998’s The Truman Show. The full list of 25 titles is as follows:
- 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)
Founded in 1988, the National Film Registry adds up to 25 impactful films to its list every year in December, showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage and increasing awareness of their preservation. Notable inductees throughout the years include 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1979’s Alien and 2001’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which were inducted in 1991, 2002, and 2021, respectively.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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