Are you a fan of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas? Do you want to learn something new about the cult classic? Then keep reading.
It’s safe to say I am obsessed with The Nightmare Before Christmas for all the right reasons, and today, the classic cult film celebrates its thirty-first anniversary. Released in 1993, the American stop-motion musical has arguably become one of the most iconic holiday films ever produced. The film elaborately combines Halloween and Christmas to the point that there are online arguments about whether or not TNBC counts as a Halloween or Christmas movie. But let’s get over ourselves and admit the film incorporates both holidays beautifully.
For those who haven’t seen the full-length film, The Nightmare Before Christmas tells the story of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of “Halloween Town.” Eager for something exciting and new, Jack stumbles upon “Christmas Town,” where he encounters its ruler, “Sandy Claws.” Mesmerized by its twinkling lights and presents and pies galore, Jack returns home and schemes to take over Christmas with the help of his “Halloween Town” citizens. Despite its creepy and otherworldly aesthetic, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is excellent for girls and boys of every age.
Directed by American filmmaker and animator Henry Selick and conceived by American animator, director, writer, and illustrator Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas was originally inspired by a poem, putting a satirical spin on the 1823 classic “The Night Before Christmas.” Burton wrote this parody poem while working as a concept artist on the 1985 The Black Cauldron by Walt Disney Productions. At the time, Burton pitched the poem to Disney as a stop-motion feature in 1983, but Disney was deeply concerned that the concept didn’t match their child-friendly brand and rejected his pitch.
In 1984, Burton was fired from Disney but eventually found success in projects such as Beetlejuice. Years later, Burton still had his pitch in mind. In 1990, Burton approached Disney, who still owned the rights to the project, to purchase the rights and produce the film himself. However, prompted by his success with Beetlejuice, Disney proposed a collaboration.
Since stop-motion requires more time, precision, and patience, The Nightmare Before Christmas took three and a half years to produce as the first full-length stop-motion animated feature. In those three and a half years, over 200 puppets were carefully constructed, voice actors were recruited, and American singer-songwriter Danny Elfman composed the original songs. American actor Chris Sarandon, known for his roles as Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride and Detective Mike Norris in Child’s Play, voiced Jack Skellington’s speaking roles. However, few people know that Danny Elfman provided Jack’s singing voice and wrote many of the original songs before the script was completed. To do this, Burton described different plot points and showcased his character designs to Elfman. Likewise, American actor and Broadway veteran Ken Page was hired to voice the villainous Oogie Boogie, Canadian actress and comedian Catherine O’Hara, also known for her role as Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice, was hired to voice Jack’s love interest and friend Sally, and voice actor Ed Ivory was hired to narrate the story and voice “Sandy Claws.”
The Nightmare Before Christmas hit theaters in late October 1993. Upon release, the film received mild success, but as years passed, it slowly gained a cult following to eventually make The Nightmare Before Christmas a modern cultural phenomenon. Today, Disney supplies its stores with TNBC merchandise from October to December and there are those who that argue TNBC is one of the greatest animated films of all time. As a fan of the film, I agree that Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is an animated masterpiece. I was introduced to the film when I was very young, and I remember being mesmerized by what I saw on screen. It is no surprise that TNBC has built such an outstanding following in the past thirty-one years.
In an exclusive interview with Empire Magazine, Tim Burton expresses his choice to not produce any official sequels of The Nightmare Before Christmas despite its rising popularity with fans. Burton argued that he wanted to preserve the purity of the film and believed sequels would take away from its original magic. Frankly, I agree. It would not make sense for Jack to forget his lesson and try to take over other holidays. However, Burton did serve as a creative consultant for the 2004 Capcom video game Oogie’s Revenge, which had voice actors Chris Sarandon and Ken Page resurface as Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie. For context, Oogie’s Revenge is set one year after the original film and follows Jack Skellington fighting off a resurrected Oogie Boogie, who has taken over control of Halloween Town.
In mid-September 2024, voice actors Ken Page and Chris Sarandon attended the Creep It Real OC as celebrity guests and panelists. As guests, they participated in a meet and greet, signing TNBC memorabilia and shaking hands with excited fans. As a Creep It Real attendee, I felt very privileged to shake hands with both Page and Sarandon and thank them personally for their roles in one of my favorite movies of all time. As panelists, Page and Sarandon explained how the film was forged and eventually animated for all to enjoy. Props and puppets were set to be trashed after the official film was complete, so almost everybody involved with the movie received a prop from the film set.
During the panel, Ken Page described how he felt during the first private screening of The Nightmare Before Christmas and said, “It brought me to tears because I knew it was something extraordinary.” Sarandon concurred and said, “I was transfixed.” It was truly a pleasure to learn more about the film from the perspective of its voice actors, who poured their hearts and souls into their performances. Sadly, Ken Page reportedly passed two weeks later on September 30, 2024, dying at the age of seventy and devastating thousands of his fans worldwide. On October 1, 2024, Danny Elfman described Ken Page as “The one and only Oogie Boogie Man” on his X account, accounting for his talent, generosity, and larger-than-life personality. Based on the comments, many fans worldwide will surely miss the actor and legend Ken Page. Myself included.
Did you learn something new? Let us know in the comments if we missed any other fun facts about Tim Burton’s holiday cult classic.
