Children's Horror Films Codexery

The Nightmare Before Christmas

A stop-motion musical fantasy about a skeleton who discovers Christmas.

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The film was released under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner because executives feared it would frighten young children.[1] After finishing his 1982 short film Vincent, Tim Burton, while employed at Walt Disney Feature Animation, authored a three-page poem titled The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was inspired by television specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! as well as the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas.[2] The Library of Congress chose the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry during 2023, citing its "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" status.[3]

Making and release

After completing Vincent in 1982, Burton wrote a poem titled The Nightmare Before Christmas, inspired by television specials of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.[2] Burton created concept art and storyboards with Rick Heinrichs, who also sculpted character models.[2] In 1990, Burton discovered Disney still owned the film rights, and he and Henry Selick committed to produce a full-length film with Selick as director.[4] The film made its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 9, 1993, and received a wide theatrical release on October 29, 1993.[5]

Tim Burton's childhood in Burbank, California, was marked by a sense of solitude, and he developed a strong fascination with holidays during those years.[2] Directing the film was not possible for Burton because he was already committed to Batman Returns and also in pre-production on Ed Wood, plus he wished to avoid the "painstakingly slow process of stop motion".[6] In San Francisco, California, during July 1991, Selick and his animation team commenced production, employing more than 120 workers across 20 sound stages.[7] A total of 227 puppets were built by the filmmakers; for expressing emotions, Jack Skellington was given "around four hundred heads".[8]

What the cited sources add

A CNN article notes that Disney released the film under Touchstone Pictures because it was "no easy sell" as a Halloween-Christmas hybrid starring a skeleton who nearly gets Santa killed.[1] The same source reports that audience support led to multiple rereleases, elevating the film from cult classic to must-watch movie for both holidays.[1] Disney has since incorporated the film's characters into its Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland.[1] The film earned $50 million at the US box office in 1993, a mild success compared to Jurassic Park's $357 million domestic gross.[1]

A Spin article from 2008 reports that Walt Disney Records released Nightmare Revisited, a 20-track collection of cover versions from the film, on September 30.[9] The cover album featured artists including Marilyn Manson, KoRn, Rise Against, and Amy Lee.[9]

References

  1. Andrew, "How 'Nightmare Before Christmas' went from cult classic to beloved Disney property", CNN, October 31, 2023. facts only, no text reused. edition.cnn.com
  2. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simpson, Blaise, "The Concept: Jack-o'-Santa : Tim Burton's new movie for Disney isn't exactly a steal-Christmas-kind-of-thing. It's more like a borrow-it-and-give-it-a-weird-twist-kind-of-thing", Los Angeles Times, Octo; Simpson, Blaise, "The Concept: Jack-o'-Santa : Tim Burton's new movie for Disney isn't exactly a steal-Christmas-kind-of-thing. It's more like a borrow-it-and-give-it-a-weird-twist-kind-of-thing", Los Angeles Times, Octo; Burton, "The Making of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", Walt Disney St en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Saperstein, "'Home Alone,' 'Terminator 2,' '12 Years a Slave' Among 25 Titles Joining National Film Registry", Variety, December 13, 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simpson, Blaise, "The Concept: Jack-o'-Santa : Tim Burton's new movie for Disney isn't exactly a steal-Christmas-kind-of-thing. It's more like a borrow-it-and-give-it-a-weird-twist-kind-of-thing", Los Angeles Times, Octo; Salisbury Burton 2006, p. 121–127; Bartlett, "This legendary Christmas movie was filmed in an SF warehouse", SFGate, December 23, 2022; Burton, "The Making of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2000; Colangelo, "Henry Selick Is A Little Tired Of Audience en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Collura, "The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D: 13 Years and Three Dimensions Later", IGN, October 21, 2006; Ricci, "Why Is Tim Burton's Name In 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' Title?", Uproxx, November 4, 2022; Selick, "The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick is humbly asking for a little bit of credit", The A.V. Club, November 1, 2022; Salisbury Burton 2006, p. 121–127; John Evan Prook, "Christmas comes to N.Y. Film Fest", Variety, August 18, 1993; Andrew, "How 'Nightmare Before Christmas' went from cult cla en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salisbury Burton 2006, p. 121–127 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salisbury Burton 2006, p. 121–127; Jones, Bill, "He Kept His Nightmare Alive", The Phoenix Gazette, October 22, 1993; Bartlett, "This legendary Christmas movie was filmed in an SF warehouse", SFGate, December 23, 2022; Collura, "The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D: 13 Years and Three Dimensions Later", IGN, October 21, 2006; "Nightmare: Truly the Stuff of Dreams", EGM Media, LLC, December 1993, p. 357 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salisbury Burton 2006, p. 121–127; Richard Rickitt, Special Effects: The History and Technique (Watson-Guptill, 2000), 159-160 . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "Marilyn Manson, Sparklehorse, KoRn on 'Nightmare' soundtrack", Spin, September 26, 2008. facts only, no text reused. spin.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article The Nightmare Before Christmas (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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