‘Iron Man’, ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘When Harry Met Sally’ among 2022’s class for National Film Registry

December 14, 2022

National Film Registry

On Wednesday morning, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the annual selection of 25 motion pictures that will be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

The movies, ranging from the film that started the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 2008’s Iron Man, to the 1989 Disney animated classic The Little Mermaid, to an 1898 snippet of Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans previously thought lost, were chosen “for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.”

Other selections include the 1972 ‘Blaxsploitation’ action film Super Fly, filmmaker John Waters‘ 1988 kitsch classic Hairspray, the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, and the 1990 cult favorite comedy House Party.

As it does after each new class is announced, Turner Classic Movies will host a television special to screen a selection of films named to the registry. It airs Tuesday, Dec. 27, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

In the announcement, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige noted in a statement, “The notion that here we are, almost 15 years after the release of Iron Man, and to have it join the Film Registry tells us it has stood the test of time and that it is still meaningful to audiences around the world.”

Films selected for the 2022 National Film Registry, in chronological order:

Mardi Gras Carnival (1898)
Cab Calloway Home Movies (1948-1951)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Charade (1963)
Scorpio Rising (1963)
Behind Every Good Man (1967)
Titicut Follies (1967)
Mingus (1968)
Manzanar (1971)
Betty Tells Her Story (1972)
Super Fly (1972)
Attica (1974)
Carrie (1976)
Union Maids (1976)
Word Is Out: Stories of Our Lives (1977)
Bush Mama (1979)
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982)
Itam Hakim, Hopiit (1984)
Hairspray (1988)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Tongues Untied (1989)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
House Party (1990)
Iron Man (2008)
Pariah (2011)