Iron Man, The Little Mermaid, When Harry Met Sally, House Party, and More Added to National Film Registry

December 14, 2022, 8:35am

Marvel Studio’s 2008 film Iron Man, the first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, has been added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. It is one of 25 motion pictures that are 10 years old or more that the Library of Congress selected for its annual class to include in the Nation Film Registry because they are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. Jon Favreau directed Iron Man, in which Robert Downey Jr. debuted as Tony Stark. Downey would play for a decade in two additional Iron Man sequels, four Avengers movies, and other MCU appearances. Iron Man also marked the beginning of superhero dominance at the box office.

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“Iron Man was the very first film Marvel Studios independently produced,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in a press release. “It was the first film that we had all of the creative control and oversight on and it was really make or break for the studio.”

He continued, “All of our favorite movies are the ones that we watch over and over again and that we grow up with. 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.”

Also joining the National Film Registry is The Little Mermaid. The 1988 animated feature film kicked off the “Disney Renaissance” that would continue through the 1990s until the end of the century.

Romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, directed by Rob Reiner, also joins the Registry. Billy Crystal, the film’s male lead, looked back on the 1989 film, saying that “the movie is beautiful and simple and appropriate and every shot is just right. The timing, which is in the hands of Rob, who is, for this movie, a modern-day Billy Wilder… and it’s New York, it’s the fall, it’s the music.”

The 1990 comedy House Party is also part of this year’s National Film Registry class. Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell starred in the film from writer/director Reginald Hudlin, which helped launch the careers of hip-hop act Kid ‘n Play.

“The day we shot the big dance number in House Party is easily one of the best days of my life,” Hudlin said. “We had all the enthusiasm in the world, all the commitment in the world.”

This year’s class spans films dating as far back as 1989. The entire list of 2022 National Film Registry selections follows.