In 1993, one of the most unique animated films ever made was released. While not a runaway success when it first came out, it has since become a pop culture phenomenon that is celebrated not once but twice a year. This is largely due to its combination of two of the largest holidays in the world, Halloween and Christmas. Let’s take a look back at this masterpiece three decades later.
The original idea was thought up by Tim Burton in 1982 when he wrote a three-page poem inspired by other classic Christmas specials like How The Grinch Stole Christmas when he was working at Disney. After the positive reception of his 1982 short, Vincent Disney considered his concept to be made into a 30-minute short until Burton was eventually fired in 1984.
Burton would then go on to direct Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure in 1985, Beetlejuice in 1988, and Batman in 1989. After a number of successes, Burton wanted to revisit his Nightmare Before Christmas project and found that Disney still owned the rights. After gaining interest from then Disney Chairman Jeffery Katzenberg due to Burton’s recent successes, Burton reunited with his friend Henry Sellik to develop the project into a feature-length film.
While the film is called Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim was one of two behind the project as Henry Selick was the film’s director. Burton had begun pre-production of the sequel to his 1989 Batman film and could not fully commit to the project, so he would serve as producer while Selick would direct. Novelist and screenwriter Caroline Thompson was brought on to do the script, and Danny Elfman was brought on board to score the film. Everything was beginning to fall into place.
For the cast, Danny Elfman was originally going to voice Jack Skellington, but eventually, it was decided to have Chris Sarandon voice him while Elfman still did the singing voice. Cathrine O’Hara would provide the voice of Sally, Ken Page would play Oogie Boogie, William Hickey would play Prof. Finkelstein, and Ed Ivory would portray Santa. In addition, Danny Elfman, Cathrine O’Hara, and Paul Reubens played the three trick-or-treaters.
Disney, thinking that the film was too dark for their more family-friendly image, decided to release the film under their Touchstone branding. The film was released in October 1993 and earned $101.2 Million against a $24 Million budget.
While considered to be a decent success, the film would gain popularity through home video sales, eventually leading it to become an annual must-watch during both holidays it is connected to. With each new year, the film aired, and new generations of children grew up with this classic.
The film’s legacy continues with various forms of merchandise, appearances in video games such as Kingdom Hearts, and even taking over the Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyland every Holiday Season. The character of Jack Skellington has even become as well known as other holiday icons like The Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge.
What were your favorite memories with this film? Do you watch it every year? Let us know.
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