In 1989, Sunrise re-entered the public eye when it was selected for preservation and inclusion on the National Film Registry.

Its win of Best Unique and Artistic Production in contrast to Wings's win for what would become known as the Best Picture award has caused Sunrise to be used as a symbol of how awards favor commercialism over art, made plain by the immediate eradication of the Artistic award.

A remake of Sunrise entitled Die Reise nach Tiltsit was made in Germany in 1939 by Veit Harlan, the director of the controversial anti-Semitic film Jud Suss (1940). Frits von Dongen and Kristina Soderbaum played the married couple, portrayed in the original film by George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor. Harlan has said: "I did my version in Memel, where the story takes place. Murnau's Sunrise was a poem, but, if you'll excuse me, mine was a real film."

by Greg Ferrara