This Day in Horror History: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Opened in 1993
Mike Sprague
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On this day in horror history, The Nightmare Before Christmas (also known as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas) opened in theaters back in 1993.
The stop-motion musical dark fantasy film was directed by Henry Selick and produced and conceived by Tim Burton. The idea started as a poem Burton wrote back in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Disney. After the success of his short film Vincent, Burton began developing The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short film or 30-minute television special. But that never happened.
Then in 1990, Burton struck a deal with Disney and kicked off production in San Francisco in July 1991. Disney originally released it through Touchstone Pictures because they thought it was “too dark and scary for kids.” In the years since, however, Disney has reclaimed ownership and re-released it in Disney Digital 3-D, making it the first stop-motion animated feature to be entirely converted to 3D.
Needless to say, it’s been a financial success over the years, snagging $89.1M and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated film.
The film follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the “real world.” When Jack stumbles on Christmastown, all bright colors and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life — he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans of mice and skeleton men can go seriously awry.
Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score and provided the singing voice of Jack Skellington along with the other killer cast including Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and Ed Ivory.
Rated PG by the MPAA, the film sports a 95% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: The Nightmare Before Christmas is a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation.
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