Rewind: 1993 in Film – The Nightmare Before Christmas

‘Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems,
In a place that perhaps you’ve seen in your dreams.
For the story that you are about to be told,
Took place in the holiday worlds of old.
Now, you’ve probably wondered where holidays come from.
If you haven’t, I’d say it’s time you begun.

The sleeper hit of 1993 that became a cult classic which spawned one of Disney’s most successful merchandise cash cows that continues to elicit dollars from emo kids around the world. Against the odds, The Nightmare Before Christmas has proven to be an enduring piece of cinema that continues to stand the test of time. And rightly so.

Born from the twisted imagination of Tim Burton, the macabre tale of the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town and his calamity of ghost, ghoul, and monster friends is deliciously dark and frightfully peculiar. But, as with most of Burton’s work, there’s a hefty dose of heart hiding beneath the bizarre and unusual visuals the filmmaker is so well-known for.

While Burton’s name has been synonymous with The Nightmare Before Christmas for over 25 years, he actually did not direct this film. Nor did he write the screenplay. Those honours go to Henry Selick and Caroline Thompson respectively. Regardless, this had been Burton’s cherished creation for over a decade before its eventual film production.

“Frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman was hired to write the film’s dazzling score and musical numbers.”

In the early 1980s, Burton had originally developed an adaptation of his twisted Christmas poem as a Disney television special (to be voiced by his close friend Vincent Price, no less) in the vain of other holiday stop-motion classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. However, after Disney deemed his talents too dark for their kid-friendly image, he was dismissed in 1984, which quickly put an end to these plans.

After his dazzling directorial success with critical and commercial darlings Beetlejuice and Batman, Disney saw the error of their ways and were now desperate to work with the filmmaker. But Burton’s commitments to Batman Returns were too demanding to take on the arduous task of directing a stop-motion animated production.

As such, directorial duties were passed to Selick, who had been an animator at Disney since 1981 and was a close friend of Burton, who would instead serve as the film’s producer. His three-page poem was fleshed out into a draft screenplay by Thompson, who had recently written the screenplay for Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. However, by numerous accounts, Thompson’s screenplay was heavily edited and amended by Selick and Burton during production.

Frequent Burton collaborator Danny Elfman was hired to write the film’s dazzling score and musical numbers, which would ultimately earn him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score. Strangely, the film received no love from the Academy Awards, which is rather embarrassing when you look at the five films and songs nominated that year.

The production itself was a mammoth one, requiring over 120 workers and filming took place on 20 different sound stages. In total, 109,440 frames were shot and 227 puppets were constructed to create the expansive cast of characters. Jack Skellington required over 400 heads to convey his many expressions during the painstaking stop-motion animation process.

“Taking advantage of the film’s burgeoning popularity, Disney have since branded The Nightmare Before Christmas with the Disney logo.”

According to Selick, Burton was rarely able to visit the set, leaving it entirely up to the director to capture the creator’s daring and unique vision for the film. It’s a true credit to Selick for delivering a final product which truly felt like a typical Tim Burton production, which is why many often wrongly presume Burton was the film’s director. It didn’t help Tim Burton’s name was sneakily placed before the title when it came time for the film’s release. This marketing plot rightly upset Selick who saw the move as unfair and misleading.

After viewing the final product, Disney made the decision to release The Nightmare Before Christmas under its Touchstone Pictures label. After kid-friendly films like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast had brought the studio back to life and re-established Disney as the home of children’s entertainment, they feared Selick’s film was simply too dark to be branded with the Disney name.

The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 9, 1993, before opening across the country on October 22. While the film received strong reviews, it failed to truly ignite the box office, ending with a modest total of $50 million in the U.S. But with the advent of VHS and later DVD, the film found new audiences and grew to become something of a cult classic.

Taking advantage of the film’s burgeoning popularity, Disney have since branded The Nightmare Before Christmas with the Disney logo and squeezed every bit of merchandise from the film as humanly possible. Everything from Jack Skellington plush toys to Oogie Boogie Christmas ornaments are available for keen Nightmare fans to snap up. This upset Burton so heavily, he shied away from working with Disney again for almost two decades.

“Nothing about The Nightmare Before Christmas screams traditional Disney, even if many of its narrative elements borrow heavily from their classic fairytales.”

But when you take away Disney’s bastardisation of The Nightmare Before Christmas, you can freely examine why this film has hit such a nerve. Jack is an endearing anti-hero with a heart of gold. Sally is the poster child for introverted emo girls everywhere. Their love story is one of the most bizarre in Disney’s canon, and therein lies its never-ending charm. Burton’s creations are so unlike anything else Disney has ever produced, which sharply sets the film apart from its animated counterparts.

Nothing about The Nightmare Before Christmas screams traditional Disney, even if many of its narrative elements borrow heavily from their classic fairytales. Is Jack really that different to the Disney princesses who long for more than what’s expected of them? Of course, those Disney traditions are hidden behind the gothic aura this film consistently exudes, but they’re there, if you look closely enough.

So, why has The Nightmare Before Christmas endured? Is it Danny Elfman’s glorious soundtrack that never seems to age, no matter how many times you’ve heard it? Is it Burton’s sublime visual aesthetic that Selick was so deftly able to bring to life? Is it the terrific voice cast who so expertly brought these characters to life? Or is it just a case of something so wildly different to the rest of Disney’s back catalogue will always stand out and continue to demand attention?

Who really knows how or why a film becomes a cult classic. It’s not a formula you can purposely create. At the end of the day, The Nightmare Before Christmas continues to dazzle audiences for one simple reason; it’s a brilliant film. Everyone hail to the pumpkin song, indeed.