‘Home Alone,’ ‘Nightmare Before Christmas,’ ‘Terminator 2’ Headed to Library of Congress

Two Christmas classics — one animated, one live action — and an apocalyptic sci-fi blockbuster are among the films that have been added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for 2023.

Home Alone, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and The Nightmare Before Christmas are three of the 25 films added to the registry this year. Over 6,800 titles were submitted for consideration this year, with Home Alone and Terminator 2 among the films that drew some of the biggest public support.

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The 2023 class features films from as far back as 1921 — the Kodak educational film, A Movie Trip Through Filmland — and two Oscar-winners from as recently as 2013: Steve McQuen’s 12 Years a Slave (which won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong’o), and the hit documentary about back-up singers, 20 Feet From Stardom.

Reflecting on his film, McQueen said, “Slavery for me was a subject matter that hadn’t been sort of given enough recognition within the narrative of cinema history. I wanted to address it for that reason, but also because it was a subject which had so much to do with how we live now.”

Other notable entries this year include the 1955 Disney film Lady and the Tramp, the 1980 teen musical blockbuster Fame, and 1985’s Desperately Seeking Susan, which featured Madonna’s first major screen role as an actress. Also included: The 1995 Tom Hanks-starring space drama Apollo 13; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s classic sports romance Love and Basketball; and Spike Lee’s 2000 satire Bamboozled, which marks Lee’s fifth film added to the registry. 

“It’s my fourth decade of filmmaking and I don’t remember saying to myself, ‘Don’t do this because the audience might not like it,’” Lee said. “That didn’t matter to me because I was showing the truth as I see it.”

A particular focus of the National Film Registry this year was including films about Asian Americans and their experiences. As such, entries included the celebrated, Oscar-winning documentary Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, about the eponymous architect who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Civil Rights Memorial; the lesser-known Cruisin’ J-Town, about jazz musicians in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo in the mid-Seventies; and even a collection of home movies shot by the Bohulano family, who lived in the Filipino community of Stockton, California between the Fifties and Seventies.

Ang Lee’s breakthrough 1993 film, The Wedding Banquet — about a Taiwanese immigrant in New York City who fakes a marriage to hide that he’s gay from his visiting family — was added as well. “I didn’t make the movie to be influential, but it was,” Lee said. “I see since the movie, whether it’s cross-culture or gay issues, some major breakthroughs, certainly in Taiwan and the Chinese community because the movie was well-liked. It just eased into people’s lives quite naturally.”

Several films selected for the registry will get a special screening on Turner Classic Movies starting Dec. 14 at 8 p.m. ET. The Library of Congress has also fittingly scheduled screenings for The Nightmare Before Christmas (Dec. 21) and Home Alone (Dec. 28), just in time for the holiday season.

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