Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is being immortalized by Congress.
Well, the Library of Congress, anyways. The institution recently unveiled its annual list of movies being inducted into the National Film Registry for 2021. Among them? Return of the Jedi.
Founded in 1988, the National Film Registry adds up to 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films” to its preservation list each year. With the recent inclusion of Return of the Jedi, the registry has preserved the original Star Wars trilogy in its entirety. NFR added Star Wars: A New Hope in 1989, and The Empire Strikes Back in 2010.
For now, the Library of Congress hasn’t set its sights on any other films in the Star Wars universe. (Well, the prequel trilogy anyways. Movies need to be at least 10 years old to be eligible for NFR, which disqualifies the sequel trilogy for the time being.)
Other popular genre films joining NFR this year include The Fellowship of the Ring, the first feature in the Lord of the Rings saga; Wes Craven’s iconic horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street; and Disney-Pixar’s emotional robot story WALL-E.
You can see the full 2021 list of NFR films below.
Films Selected for the 2021 National Film Registry (Alphabetical Order)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Chicana (1979)
Cooley High (1975)
Evergreen (1965)
Flowers and Trees (1932)
The Flying Ace (1926)
Hellbound Train (1930)
Jubilo (1919)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)
Pink Flamingos (1972)
Requiem-29 (1970)
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979)
Ringling Brothers Parade Film (1902)
Selena (1997)
Sounder (1972)
Star Wars Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
WALL-E (2008)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987)
The Wobblies (1979)
You can see the full list of films added to NFR since 1988 on the Library of Congress website.
