National Film Registry adds ‘Dark Knight,’ ‘The Blues Brothers’ and ‘Grease’

Some musicals and a superhero film made this year’s list of America’s most influential motion pictures to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on Monday announced the annual selection of 25 films.

They range from the silent film “Suspense,” which was co-directed by a woman in 1913, to Sidney Poitier’s Oscar winning performance in 1963’s “Lilies of the Field,” the 1978 megahit musical “Grease,” 1980’s musical comedy “The Blues Brothers” and the 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight.”

“This is not only a great honor for all of us who worked on ‘The Dark Knight,’ this is also a tribute to all of the amazing artists and writers who have worked on the great mythology of Batman over the decades,” said Christopher Nolan, director of “The Dark Knight,” said in a statement.

The movies are selected because of their “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage” and this year’s titles include blockbusters, musicals, silent films, documentaries and diverse stories adapted from books to screen.

This year’s selections include a record number of films directed by women and filmmakers of color, with nine directed by women and seven by people of color.

The 25 selections are:

1. “Suspense” (1913)

2. “Kid Auto Races at Venice” (1914)

3. “Bread” (1918)

4. “The Battle of the Century” (1927)

5. “With Car and Camera Around the World” (1929)

6. “Cabin in the Sky” (1943)

7. “Outrage” (1950)

8. “The Man with the Golden Arm” (1955)

9. “Lilies of the Field” (1963)

10. “A Clockwork Orange” (1971)

11. “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” (1971)

12. “Wattstax” (1973)

13. “Grease” (1978)

14. “The Blues Brothers” (1980)

15. “Losing Ground” (1982)

16. “Illusions” (1982)

17. “The Joy Luck Club” (1993)

18. “The Devil Never Sleeps” (1994)

19. “Buena Vista Social Club” (1999)

20. “The Ground” (1993-2001)

21. “Shrek” (2001)

22. “Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege” (2006)

23.”The Hurt Locker” (2008)

24. “The Dark Knight” (2008)

25. “Freedom Riders” (2010)

“The National Film Registry is an important record of American history, culture and creativity, captured through one of the great American art forms, our cinematic experience,” Hayden said in a statement. “With the inclusion of diverse filmmakers, we are not trying to set records but rather to set the record straight by spotlighting the astonishing contributions women and people of color have made to American cinema, despite facing often-overwhelming hurdles.”

The 2020 group brings the number of films selected for preservation in the registry to 800.