The Nightmare Before Christmas 27st anniversary

Blog

October 13, 2020

In 1982 an animator working in Walt Disney Productions wrote a poem. His name was Tim Burton and in October 13th, 1993 he saw his creation come to life. A Nightmare Before Christmas is a stop-motion animated musical film directed by Henry Selick, who also directed Coraline (2009), and produced by Burton. Danny Elfman wrote the songs of the film and gave the singing voice of Jack Skellington.

Jack Skellington, King of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home cause confusion.
Plot summary (IMDB)

The film had a budget of $18 millions and grossed $89.1 millions, becoming a success and later a cult film. It’s the first animated film to be nominated to Academy Award Best Visual Effects. The production began on July 1991 in San Francisco, California and ended on 1993. The crew had over 120 workers using 20 sound stages for filming simultaneously. In total 109,440 frames were taken for the film. They were used 227 puppets to represent each character and around 400 Jack Skellington’s heads for every possible expression and emotion.

27 years later the film is an Halloween- Christmas icon. Burton confirmed himself that The Nightmare Before Christmas is an Halloween film it still is a must to watch on Christmas season. This film it’s my favorite film of all time and make me felt in love with all of Burton’s work.

The legacy of the film can be seen in all the merchandise that exist and it’s sold by Disney every year. The theme attraction in Disneyland that substitutes The Haunted Mansion from October to December, even in songs. The punk rock band Blink-182 mentions the film in their single I Miss You.

The Haunted Mansion, Disneyland during October-December

We can live like Jack and Sally, if we want
Where you can always find me
And we’ll have Halloween on Christmas
And, in the night, we’ll wish this never ends
I miss you – Blink-182