The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton's
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A skeleton-like figure wearing a suit stands on a curled cliff, in front of a yellow full moon. Below him are hills with jack-o-lantern pumpkins. On a mountain is written the title, "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas".
Directed by Henry Selick
Produced by Tim Burton
Denise Di Novi
2006 reissue:
Don Hahn
Written by Story:
Tim Burton
Adaptation:
Michael McDowell
Screenplay:
Caroline Thompson
Starring Danny Elfman
Chris Sarandon
Catherine O'Hara
William Hickey
Glenn Shadix
Ken Page
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography Pete Kozachik
Editing by Stan Webb
Studio Skellington Productions
Distributed by 1993 release:
Touchstone Pictures
Disney Digital 3-D:
Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s) October 29, 1993
Running time 76 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $18 million[1]
Gross revenue 1993:
$50 million
2006:
$8.7 million
2007:
$15.8 million
2008:
$1.1 million
2009:
$406,085
Total: $75.6 million

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 stop motion fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to "Christmas Town". Danny Elfman wrote the film score and provided the singing voice of Jack, as well as other minor characters. The remaining principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page and Glenn Shadix.

The production of the film started with a poem by Tim Burton written when he was working as a Disney animator in the early 1980s. With the critical success of Burton's stop-motion film Vincent in 1982, Disney started to consider The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short subject or 30-minute television special. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project, and in 1990, Burton and Disney made a development deal. Production started in July 1991 in San Francisco. Walt Disney Pictures decided to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought Nightmare would be "too dark and scary for kids". The Nightmare Before Christmas has been viewed with critical and financial success, grossing over $50 million during its initial theatrical release. Disney has reissued the film annually under their Disney Digital 3-D format since 2006, bringing its total gross income to date to over $75 million[2]. Nightmare immediately became a hit in modern culture, thanks to its catchy songs and popular characters. Many toys and clothing lines spawned from the movie and are popular around the world. Disney suggested producing a sequel, but Burton shot the idea down, claiming he wanted to "protect the purity of the movie."

IMDb.com, the Internet Movie Database, lists The Nightmare Before Christmas at #242 on its Top 250 movies of all time, as voted on by users of the website.[3]

Contents

Plot

In a magical place called Halloween Town, all of the town's citizens have gathered to celebrate their holiday and success after terrifying the world. However, Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king and most-acclaimed citizen of the town, a de-facto leader, has become tired of this holiday and no longer sees the point of scaring people. The night after the celebration he takes a long walk through the forest with his ghost dog Zero (who has a glowing pumpkin for a nose), where he finds doorways to other holidays. Intrigued by one showing a bright green tree with decorations, Jack opens the door and falls down a hole leading into Christmas Town. Amazed by the snow, color, and wonder he sees, Jack becomes fascinated with Christmas. Jack returns to Halloween Town and shows the citizens examples of Christmas items. He shows them Christmas trees, stockings, and the whole routine of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The townspeople are excited, but Jack worries they don't fully grasp the concepts he's trying to explain to them. In the crowd is Sally, a ragdoll brought to life by the town scientist Dr. Finklestein. She is secretly in love with Jack and too is awestruck by Christmas, but sees a vision of a burning Christmas tree and worries it is a bad sign. She informs Jack of her vision but he simply shrugs it off his shoulders and goes ahead in his plan.

Jack secludes himself in his lab, leaving the citizens of Halloween Town in troubled thoughts of what Jack is up to and if he's okay, and performs various experiments on Christmas-themed items in an attempt to find a way to explain it to his citizens. Jack's obsession escalates as his experiments fail, and he ultimately comes to the conclusion that not only could he imitate Christmas perfectly, but that he could improve upon it, and announces to the town they are taking over Christmas. Jack rallies the town to begin making Christmas presents, hires Dr. Finklestein to animate skeletal reindeer for a sleigh, and charges Sally with knitting him a red and white Santa coat. As Christmas approaches and both Halloween Town and Christmas Town prepare for Christmas, Jack puts three trick-or-treaters (Lock, Shock and Barrel) in charge of kidnapping Santa Claus from Christmas Town, but warns them not to include their master Oogie Boogie in any of their affairs. On Christmas Eve, everything is almost set when the three return with Santa. Jack tells Santa to "take the night off" and has the three take Santa back to their lair to keep him contained for the night. Instead, the three send Santa to Oogie Boogie, who plots to gamble with his life at stake.

Sally attempts to stop Jack by creating a thick fog, but Jack uses Zero's glowing red nose to light the way and directs the dog to the head of the sleigh. Jack takes off around the world and begins to deliver his terrifying presents with disastrous results, though he mistakes their screams for joy. A warning is put out on the news of a Santa Claus impersonator, and the citizens of Halloween Town rejoice, believing their Christmas a success. Sally rushes to save Santa Claus, but is captured by Oogie Boogie as well. Artillery cannons fire on Jack, destroying his sleigh, and both the police and the people of Halloween Town assume him dead. Waking up in a graveyard, Jack realizes his plans have ruined his Christmas, but is newly inspired about Halloween. Jack tears off his Santa suit and declares himself the pumpkin king again, then hurries back to Halloween Town to release Santa.

Jack enters Oogie Boogie's lair just as he's about to kill Santa and Sally. He is able to pull open a stitch in Oogie Boogie's clothing (for his skin is made out of cloth) and all the bugs that are inside Boogie's body start to fall out, rendering him helpless. Jack apologizes to Santa, who then races off to fix Christmas. Jack confronts Sally about her attempt to save Santa and realizes her feelings for him, as Lock, Shock and Barrel lead the Mayor to find Jack. Santa Claus is shown flying around the world, giving out real presents and removing the evil toys Jack had given out. Jack returns to his townpeople as Santa flies overhead. Santa and Jack wish each other "Happy Halloween" and "Merry Christmas" as Santa brings snow to the town. The residents of Halloween Town begin playing in the snow, and Jack follows Sally out of town. She climbs and sits atop a snow covered hill, and Jack joins her singing. They sing to each other and realize that they were meant to be together. As their hands touch, they embrace and kiss each other as Zero looks on. Then Zero flies up into the night, transformed into a star.

Voice cast

Upper body shot of man sitting behind desk with baseball cap speaking into a microphone
Chris Sarandon, the voice of Jack Skellington.

Paul Reubens, along with O'Hara and Elfman provide the voices of Lock, Shock and Barrel. Reubens previously worked with Burton in Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), as well as cameoing in Batman Returns. Elfman also supplied the voice for the "Clown with the Tear-Away Face". The cast also features comedian Greg Proops of Whose Line is it Anyway? fame portraying various characters.

Production

Burton wrote a three-page poem titled The Nightmare Before Christmas when he was a Disney animator in the early-1980s. Burton took inspiration from television specials of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas.[4] With the success of Vincent in 1982, Disney started to consider The Nightmare Before Christmas as either a short subject or 30-minute Holiday television special. Rick Heinrichs and Burton created concept art and storyboards, with Heinrichs also sculpting character models.[5] "Back then, I would have done anything to get the project off ground", Burton explained. "There was a lot of talk of either a short film, like Vincent or a TV special, but it went nowhere. I also wanted to have Vincent Price as narrator." Burton showed Henry Selick, who was also a Disney animator in the early-1980s, the material he and Heinrichs developed.[6]

Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project. In 1990, Burton found out that Disney still owned the film rights, and the two committed to produce a full-length film with Selick as director.[6] Disney was looking forward to Nightmare "to show capabilities of technical and storytelling achievements that were present in Who Framed Roger Rabbit."[7] Nightmare marked Burton's third film in a row to have a Christmas setting. Burton could not direct because of his commitment to Batman Returns and he did not want to be involved with "the painstakingly slow process of stop-motion".[6] To adapt his poem into a screenplay, Burton approached Michael McDowell, his collaborator on Beetlejuice. McDowell and Burton experienced creative differences, which convinced Burton to make the film as a musical with lyrics and compositions by frequent collaborator Danny Elfman. Elfman and Burton created a rough storyline and two-thirds of the film's songs,[1] while Selick and his team of animators began production in July 1991 in San Francisco, California[6] with a crew of 200 workers.[8] Joe Ranft worked as a storyboard artist, while Paul Berry was hired as an animation supervisor.[9]

Elfman found writing Nightmare's 10 songs as "one of the easiest jobs I've ever had. I had a lot in common with Jack Skellington."[5] Caroline Thompson still had yet to be hired to write the screenplay.[1] With Thompson's screenplay, Selick stated, "there are very few lines of dialogue that are Caroline's. She became busy on other films and we were constantly rewriting, reconfiguring and developing the film visually."[10] The work of Ray Harryhausen, Ladislas Starevich, Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, Jan Lenica, Francis Bacon and Wassily Kandinsky influenced the filmmakers. Selick described the production design as akin to a pop-up book.[5][10] In addition, Selick stated, "When we reach Halloween Town, it's entirely German Expressionism. When Jack enters Christmas Town, it's an outrageous Dr. Seuss setpiece. Finally, when Jack is delivering presents in the "Real World", everything is plain, simple, and perfectly aligned."[11]

On the direction of the film, Selick reflected, "It's as though he [Burton] laid the egg, and I sat on it and hatched it. He wasn't involved in a hands-on way, but his hand is in it. It was my job to make it look like "a Tim Burton film", which is not so different from my own films."[10] When asked on Burton's involvement, Selick claimed, "I don't want to take away from Tim, but he was not in San Francisco when we made it. He came up five times over two years, and spent no more than eight or ten days in total."[10] Walt Disney Animation Studios contributed with some use of second-layering traditional animation.[6] Burton found production somewhat difficult because he was directing Batman Returns and in pre-production of Ed Wood.[1]

Character design

The filmmakers constructed 227 puppets to represent the characters in the movie, with Jack Skellington having "around four hundred heads", allowing the expression of every possible emotion.[12] Sally's mouth movements "were animated through the replacement method. During the animation process,...only Sally's face 'mask' was removed in order to preserve the order of her long, light brown hair. Sally had ten types of faces, each made with a series of eleven expressions (e.g. eyes open and closed, and various facial poses) and synchronised mouth movements."[13]

Marketing

The owners of the franchise have undertaken an extensive marketing campaign of these characters across many media. In addition to the "Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland" featuring "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas characters,"[14] Jack Skellington, Sally, Pajama Jack, and the mayor have been made into Bendies figures,[15] while Jack and Sally even appear in fine art.[16] Moreover, Sally has been made into an action figure and a Halloween costume.[17] Jack is also the titular character in the short story "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack's story."[18]

Oddly enough, Jim Edwards actually contends that "Tim Burton's animated movie The Nightmare Before Christmas is really a movie about the marketing business. The movie's lead character, Jack Skellington, the chief marketing officer (CMO) for a successful company decides that his success is boring and he wants the company to have a different business plan. Some have wondered which real-life company failure the movie is based on: Sergio Zyman's New Coke or Merck's launch and subsequent withdrawal of Vioxx."[19]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album was released in 1993 on Walt Disney Records. For the film's 2006 re-release in Disney Digital 3-D, a special edition of the soundtrack was released, featuring a bonus disc which contained covers of several of the film's songs by Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Marilyn Manson, Fiona Apple and She Wants Revenge. Six original demo tracks by Elfman were also included.[20] On September 30, 2008, Disney released the cover album Nightmare Revisited.

Release

Walt Disney Pictures decided to release the film under their Touchstone Pictures banner because they thought Nightmare would be "too dark and scary for kids". Selick remembered, "Their biggest fear, and why it was kind of a stepchild project, [was] they were afraid of their core audience hating the film and not coming. It wasn't too dark, too scary. Kids love to get scared. In fact, I don't think it's too scary at all. Even little, little kids, as young as three, a lot of them love that film and respond well to it."[9] To help market the film "it was released as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," Burton explained. "But it turned more into more of a brand-name thing, it turned into something else, which I'm not quite sure about."[1]

Around the release of the film, Touchstone president David Hoberman quoted, "I hope Nightmare goes out and makes a fortune. If it does, great. If it doesn't, that doesn't negate the validity of the process. The budget was less than any Disney blockbuster so it doesn't have to earn Aladdin-sized grosses to satisfy us."[5] The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 9.[21] Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was given a limited release on October 15, 1993, before being wide released on October 29. The film earned $50 million in the United States on its first theatrical run.

Danny Elfman was worried the characterization of Oogie Boogie would be considered racist by National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[22] Elfman's predictions came true; however, director Henry Selick stated the character was inspired by the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain. "Cab Calloway would dance his inimitable jazz dance and sing "Minnie the Moocher" or "Old Man of the Mountain", and they would rotoscope him, trace him, turn him into a cartoon character, often transforming him into an animal, like a walrus," Selick continued. "I think those are some of the most inventive moments in cartoon history, in no way racist, even though he was sometimes a villain. We went with Ken Page, who is a black singer and he had no problem with it".[10] The film was nominated for both the Academy Award for Visual Effects and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost both categories to Jurassic Park.[23][24] Nightmare won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, while Elfman won Best Music. Selick and the animators were also nominated for their work.[25] Elfman lost the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score to Kitarō of Heaven & Earth.[26]

Critical reception

The film has gone on to receive critical acclaim. Based on 69 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of the critics enjoyed The Nightmare Before Christmas with the consensus of "a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation."[27] With 15 reviewers in the "Top Critics" category, the film has a 100% approval rating.[28] By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 77, based on 16 reviews.[29] Roger Ebert (who gave negative reviews to Burton's previous films Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands) gave a highly positive review for Nightmare. Ebert believed the film's visual effects were as revolutionary as Star Wars, taking into account that Nightmare was "filled with imagination that carries us into a new world".[30]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it a restoration of "originality and daring to the Halloween genre. This dazzling mix of fun and fright also explodes the notion that animation is kid stuff. ... It's 74 minutes of timeless movie magic."[31] James Berardinelli stated "The Nightmare Before Christmas has something to offer just about everyone. For the kids, it's a fantasy celebrating two holidays. For the adults, it's an opportunity to experience some light entertainment while marveling at how adept Hollywood has become at these techniques. There are songs, laughs, and a little romance. In short, The Nightmare Before Christmas does what it intends to: entertain."[32] Desson Thomson of The Washington Post enjoyed stylistic features in common with Oscar Wilde, German Expressionism, the Brothers Grimm and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.[33]

Michael A. Morrison discusses the influence of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas on the film, writing that Jack parallels the Grinch and Zero parallels Max, the Grinch's dog.[34] Philip Nel writes that the film "challenges the wisdom of adults through its trickster characters" contrasting Jack as a "good trickster" with Oogie Boogie, whom he also compares with Dr. Seuss's Dr. Terwilliker, as a bad trickster.[35] Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic see the characters as presented in a more negative light and criticize the film's characters as having racial constructs, with the protagonists using "whitespeak" and the antagonist, Oogie Boogie, using "blackspeak."[36] Entertainment Weekly reports that fan reception of these characters borders on obsession, profiling "Laurie and Myk Rudnick a couple who are extremely interested in the motion picture The Nightmare Before Christmas. Their degree of obsession with that film is so great that...they named their son after the real-life person that a character in the film is based on."[37] This enthusiasm for the characters has spread beyond North America to Japan."[38]

Yvonne Tasker notes "the complex characterization seen in The Nightmare Before Christmas,"[39] Most recently, the film ranked #1 on Rotten Tomatoes Top 25 Best Christmas Movies.[40]

With successful home video sales, Nightmare achieved the ranks of a cult film.[9] Touchstone Pictures first released the film on DVD in December 1997. It contained no special features.[41] Nightmare was released a second time in October 2000 as a special edition. The release included audio commentary by Selick and cinematographer Pete Kozachik, a 28-minute making-of documentary, gallery of concept art, and storyboards, test footage and deleted scenes. Burton's Vincent and Frankenweenie were also included.[42] On October 20, 2006, Disney reissued Nightmare (not under Touchstone Pictures) with conversion to Disney Digital 3-D. Industrial Light & Magic assisted in the process.[9] It made a further $8.7 million in the box office.[43] Subsequently, the 3-D version of Nightmare has been re-released annually in October.[44] The 2007 and 2008 reissues earned a $14.5 million and $1.1 million, respectively, increasing the film's total box office gross to $74.7 million.[44] It has also been reissued again for 2009's Halloween season.

These reissues have led to a reemergence of 3-D films and advances in Real D Cinema.[45][46] Disney released the film again on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in August 2008 as a two-disc digitally remastered "collector's edition".[47][48] Nightmare has also become a brand name for the Goth subculture,[49] and inspired video game spin-offs, including Oogie's Revenge and The Pumpkin King and is among the many Disney-owned franchises that contribute to the mythology of the Kingdom Hearts series. A trading card game is also available. Since 2001, Disneyland has held a Nightmare Before Christmas theme for its Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction.

Jamie Frater ranks the film first on a list of Top 10 Kids' Movies Adults Will Love, calling the film, "One of the most memorable and wonderful family films ever. Christmas, Halloween, and Tim Burton, how can it miss? The soundtrack from Danny Elfman is amazing, with witty, beautiful tunes and lyrics. Jack is perfectly realized as the 'town hero' who seeks more in his life (or death, as it may be), a place we all find ourselves time to time. Sally is loverlorn and pines for Jack to not only love her, but to just notice her. Incredibly animated by Henry Selick, based on Tim Burton's original story, NBX has become a cult classic that...is a true masterpiece."[50]

Abandoned sequel

In 2001, Walt Disney Pictures began to consider producing a sequel, but rather than using stop motion, Disney wanted to use computer animation.[51] Burton convinced Disney to drop the idea. "I was always very protective of [Nightmare] not to do sequels or things of that kind", Burton explained. "You know, 'Jack visits Thanksgiving world' or other kinds of things just because I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it", Burton said. "Because it's a mass-market kind of thing, it was important to kind of keep that purity of it. I try to respect people and keep the purity of the project as much as possible."[46] A sequel was made, in the form of a video game called The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. A prequel for Gameboy was called The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Mark Salisbury, Tim Burton (2006). Burton on Burton. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 121–127. ISBN 0-571-22926-3. 
  2. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas Box Office Mojo". 2010-05-19. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nightmarebeforechristmas.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-19. 
  3. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Internet Movie Database. 2010-05-17. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/. Retrieved 2010-05-17. 
  4. ↑ Tim Burton, Henry Selick, The Making of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, 2000, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Mimi Avins (November 1993). "Ghoul World", Premiere, pp. 24–30. Retrieved on 2008-09-26.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Salisbury, Burton, p.115—120
  7. ↑ "BV toons up down under". Variety. 1993-02-18. http://www.variety.com/article/VR104069. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  8. ↑ Brian Gallagher (2008-08-22). "Henry Selick Talks The Nightmare Before Christmas". Movie Web. http://www.movieweb.com/news/NE8qtf98rxaQb8. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Scott Collura (2006-10-20). "The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D: 13 Years and Three Dimensions Later". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/740/740769p1.html. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 David Helpern (December 1994). "Animated Dreams", Sight & Sound, pp. 33—37. Retrieved on 2008-09-26.
  11. ↑ Henry Selick, Pete Kozachik, DVD audio commentary, 2000, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
  12. ↑ Richard Rickitt, Special Effects: The History and Technique (Watson-Guptill, 2000), 159-160.
  13. ↑ Maureen Furniss, Art in motion: animation aesthetics (1998), 168.
  14. ↑ Ramin Setoodeh, "HAUNTED PARKS", Newsweek 144.16 (10/18/2004): 73.
  15. ↑ Frederick J. Augustyn, Dictionary of Toys and Games in American Popular Culture (Haworth Press, 2004), 18.
  16. ↑ "New Disney Fine Art: Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas Limited Edition by Artist Jim Salvati," TechWhack (November 3rd, 2008).
  17. ↑ For an image of a Sally costume, see Bobwilson, "Halloween gives teens a chance to scare, be silly," AVALANCHE-JOURNAL (10/31/2008).
  18. ↑ tk, "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack's story", Disney Scary Storybook Collection (New York: Disney Press, 2003.), 5.
  19. ↑ Jim Edwards, "Jack Skellington, Brand Manager", Brandweek 47.40 (10/30/2006): 21.
  20. ↑ James Montgomery (2006-08-28). "Fall Out Boy, Panic, Marilyn Manson Add To New 'Nightmare Before Christmas' Soundtrack". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1539534/20060828/fall_out_boy.jhtml?headlines=true. Retrieved 2008-11-29. 
  21. ↑ John Evan Prook (1993-08-18). "Christmas comes to N.Y. Film Fest". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR109733. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  22. ↑ Ken Hanke (1999). "Burtonland". Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker. Renaissance Books. pp. 137–148. ISBN 1-58063-162-2. 
  23. ↑ "66th Academy Awards". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_Awards_USA/1994. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  24. ↑ "Hugo Awards: 1994". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Hugo_Awards/1994. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  25. ↑ "Saturn Awards: 1994". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Academy_of_Science_Fiction_Fantasy_And_Horror_Films_USA/1994. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  26. ↑ "51st Golden Globe Awards". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Golden_Globes_USA/1994. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  27. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightmare_before_christmas/. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  28. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas: Top Critics". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightmare_before_christmas/?critic=creamcrop. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  29. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/nightmarebeforexmas?q=The%20Nightmare%20Before%20Christmas. Retrieved 2008-09-28. 
  30. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Roger Ebert.com. 1993-10-22. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19931022/REVIEWS/310220302/1023. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  31. ↑ Peter Travers (2001-04-11). "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5947515/review/5947516/the_nightmare_before_christmas. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  32. ↑ James Berardinelli. "The Nightmare Before Christmas". ReelViews. http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=922. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  33. ↑ Desson Thomson (1993-10-22). "The Nightmare Before Christmas". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thenightmarebeforechristmaspghowe_a0b003.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  34. ↑ Michael A. Morrison, Trajectories of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Fourteenth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997), 154.
  35. ↑ Philip Nel, Dr. Seuss: American Icon (Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004), 95.
  36. ↑ Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, Critical White Studies: Looking Behind the Mirror (Temple University Press, 1997), 281.
  37. ↑ "OBSESSIVE FANS OF THE WEEK!" in Entertainment Weekly 909 (12/1/2006): 6.
  38. ↑ Stephen Jones, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror (Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002), 75.
  39. ↑ Yvonne Tasker, Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers (Routledge, 2002), 76.
  40. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Rank 1". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best_christmas_movies/nightmare_before_christmas/. Retrieved 2008-12-20. 
  41. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304711921. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  42. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas (Special Edition)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005AXM0. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  43. ↑ "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D (2006)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001AIRUOU. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", Releases, Box Office Mojo, retrieved 18-09-2009
  45. ↑ Cam Shea (2007-04-27). "Real D: The Future of Cinema". IGN. http://movies.ign.com/articles/784/784033p1.html. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Shawn Adler; Larry Carroll (2006-10-20). "How Burton's Fever Dream Spawned Nightmare Before Christmas". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1543596/20061019/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
  47. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas (2-Disc Collector's Edition + Digital Copy)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001AIRUOU. Retrieved 2008-09-26. 
  48. ↑ "The Nightmare Before Christmas [Blu-ray + Digital Copy (1993)"]. Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Before-Christmas-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B001AIRUP4/ref=ed_oe_blu. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
  49. ↑ Larry Carroll (2006-10-23). "Tim Burton Talks Nightmare, Goth Kids, Frightening Friends Episodes". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1543705/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
  50. ↑ Jamie Frater, "Top Ten Kids' Movies Adults Will Love," The Ultimate Book of Top 10 Lists: A Mind-Boggling Collection of Fun, Fascinating and Bizarre Facts on Movies, Music, Sports, Crime, Celebrities, History, Trivia and More (Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 2010), 380.
  51. ↑ Fred Topel (2008-08-25). "Director Henry Selick Interview – The Nightmare Before Christmas". About.com. http://movies.about.com/od/nightmarebeforechristmas/a/nightmare082508.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 

Further reading

External links

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Characters
Jack Skellington · Sally
Video games
Oogie's Revenge · The Pumpkin King
Soundtrack
The Nightmare Before Christmas · Nightmare Revisited · "This Is Halloween"
See also
Haunted Mansion Holiday · Trading Card Game
Films directed by Henry Selick
1990s
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) · James and the Giant Peach (1996)
2000s
Monkeybone (2001) · Coraline (2009)
Tim Burton
Director
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) · Beetlejuice (1988) · Batman (1989) · Edward Scissorhands (1990) · Batman Returns (1992) · Ed Wood (1994) · Mars Attacks! (1996) · Sleepy Hollow (1999) · Planet of the Apes (2001) · Big Fish (2003) · Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) · Corpse Bride (2005) · Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) · Alice in Wonderland (2010) · Frankenweenie (2012)
Producer
Edward Scissorhands (1990) · Batman Returns (1992) · The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) · Cabin Boy (1994) · Ed Wood (1994) · Batman Forever (1995) · James and the Giant Peach (1996) · Mars Attacks! (1996) · The World of Stainboy (2000) · Corpse Bride (2005) · 9 (2009)
Short films
The Island of Doctor Agor (1971) · Stalk of the Celery Monster (1979) · Vincent (1982) · Frankenweenie (1984)
Literature
Burton on Burton, edited by Mark Salisbury (1995, revised editions 2000, 2006) · The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories (1997) · The Art of Tim Burton, written by Leah Gallo (2009)