It’s almost unthinkable these days that Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas wasn’t a huge hit when it was first released. At the time of writing, it’s a total holiday staple (Halloween or Christmas, you decide), heavily merchandised, with songs that stand as household favourites (‘What’s This?’ and ‘This Is Halloween’, to name a few). But back in the day, the film scared Disney, underperformed at the box office, and only went on to become a perennial favourite on home video. Thirty years later, its legacy stands as tall as its skeletal protagonist – and while that means fans often clamouring for another adventure with Jack Skellington and the denizens of Halloween Town, Burton is insistent on that not being the case.
Speaking to Empire for a major new 30th anniversary celebration of the film – along with director Henry Selick and writer Caroline Thompson – Burton was vehement that he doesn’t want more Nightmare Before Christmas movies, of any kind. “To me the movie is very important,” he tells Empire. “I’ve done sequels, I’ve done other things, I’ve done reboots, I’ve done all that shit, right? I don’t want that to happen to this. It’s nice that people are maybe interested [in another one], but I’m not. I feel like that old guy who owns a little piece of property and won’t sell to the big power-plant that wants to take my land.” Cue the grumpy old prospector voice: “Get off of my land!” he barks. “You pesky little… You ain’t getting this property! I don’t care what you want to build on it. You come on my property… Where’s my shotgun?”
Skellington is particularly personal to Burton, a “character that’s perceived as dark, but is really light,” he says, looking back on the Pumpkin King who becomes enchanted by the spirit of Christmas. “Those are the kinds of things that I love, whether it’s [Edward] Scissorhands or Batman, characters that have that. It represented all those feelings that I had. I was perceived as this dark character, when I didn’t feel that way. So it was a very personal character.” Sometimes, one big adventure – and a perfect one at that – is just enough.
Read Empire’s full 30th anniversary celebration of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – speaking to Burton, Selick and Thompson on the tumultuous production of an animated holiday movie like no other – in the 2024 Preview issue, on sale Thursday 23 November. Pre-order a copy online here.