'Jurassic Park,' 'The Shining,' 'Brokeback Mountain,' And More Added To National Film Registry

The Library of Congress has announced its 25 new inductees to the National Film Registry, the archive that protects and preserves "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films" to American film history. As of 2018, there are 727 films in the registry — a surprisingly small amount considering cinema's rich and long history.

This year's annual selection of inductees has an even mixture of blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation and independent films that span 107 years, from 1898 to 2005. These films include Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, and more.

The Library of Congress announced Wednesday its annual list of 25 new additions to the National Film Registry. Here is the complete list of National Film Registry 2018 inductees:

It's nice to see the National Film Registry acknowledging silent classics and blockbusters alike with this year's additions. Jurassic Park is widely accepted as a cultural touchstone, but its status as a blockbuster monster movie could have prevented it from being considered on the same level as The Shining. But the National Film Registry isn't here to rank movies, but preserve them for their cultural significance, and Jurassic Park definitely qualifies.

Classics like My Fair Lady, Rebecca, Cinderella, Paul Newman's Hud, and The Shining also made this list, as do musical documentaries like Monterey Pop. Brokeback Mountain and its tragic LGBTQ romance is also an important addition to this year's list.

Along with the list of films, the Library of Congress included brief descriptions of each of the films and their reasons for their inclusion on the list. If you want to learn more, follow that link.