'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Lands on AFI's Top 10 List

'Mad Max: Fury Road,' 'Spotlight' and 'Straight Outta Compton' also made the annual list.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has made the American Film Institute’s list of the top 10 movies of the year. The other film honorees for the 2015 AFI Awards include The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Carol, Inside Out, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, Room, Spotlight and Straight Outta Compton.



It’s the first appearance Star Wars has had on any of the year-end awards lists, since Disney did not screen the film for critics and other awards groups in advance of its Dec. 14 world premiere. But the AFI postponed its awards meeting from earlier in the month, so its jurors would have a chance to consider Star Wars before making their decision.

AFI also announced the 10 TV shows being honored, which included new series Mr. Robot, Unreal and Aziz Ansari's Master of None. The other honorees are The Americans, Better Call Saul, Black-ish, Empire, Fargo, Game of Thrones and Homeland.

AMC's Mad Men, which wrapped up its final season in 2015, received the AFI Special Award, "acknowledging its landmark contributions to America’s cultural legacy across nine years." The hit series has earned more honors than any other show in the history of the AFI Awards.

"Since AFI’s founding in the White House Rose Garden 50 years ago, its mandate has been to celebrate our nation’s storytellers," said AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale. "This is the goal of AFI Awards — to bring together our community as colleagues, not competitors, and to shine a proper light on their collective efforts to entertain and enlighten the world."

The honorees, chosen by film and TV juries chaired by producers and AFI board of trustees vice chairs Tom Pollock (for film) and Richard Frank (for TV), will be celebrated at a private luncheon in Los Angeles on Jan. 8.

The complete list of honorees is below:

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Carol

Inside Out

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

Room

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Straight Outta Compton

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR

The Americans

Better Call Saul

Black-ish

Empire

Fargo

Game of Thrones

Homeland

Master of None

Mr. Robot

Unreal

AFI SPECIAL AWARD

Mad Men