West Virginia University Libraries Exhibit
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Ever wonder what would happen if two holidays met? Meet Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, a dual holiday film that has become one of the most famous cult classics of all time!
What Is This?
The film begins with Jack Skellington (speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon) and his friends in Halloween Town. Bored with everyday life, Jack finds Christmas Town and plans to take over Christmas. With the help of his friends and his ghost dog Zero, Jack delivers presents on Christmas Eve. But something is wrong! Bug-filled bad guys and mischievous trick-or-treaters kidnap Santa Clause and attempt to destroy Christmas, all while Jack learns that his version of Christmas isn't so popular. By the end of the film, Jack realizes his mistakes and accepts his role as the Pumpkin King. Inspired by the magic of Christmas, and with the help of St. Nick himself, Jack finds where he belongs and saves Christmas.
Image provided by the West Virginia & Regional History Center
History Behind the Film
Image provided by the West Virginia & Regional History Center
This is an actual copy of The Nightmare Before Christmas script that was donated to WVU by Chris Sarandon. It is available to view at the West Virginia & Regional History Center!
In the 80s, Tim Burton worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios. He worked on films like The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. During this time, Tim Burton also wanted to create a story that blended two of his favorite holidays: Halloween and Christmas. Inspired by Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, he came up with the idea to create a character that was the opposite of the Grinch (Walt Disney, 1993). He began sketching characters, creating a lanky skeleton named Jack. While working at Disney, Tim Burton met and collaborated with future director Henry Selick and visual consultant Rick Heinrichs. When Tim pitched the Nightmare Before Christmas idea to Disney, they turned him down. This led to Tim, Rick, and Henry leaving Disney to start their careers elsewhere (Volk-Weiss, 2020).
Tim Burton met future Nightmare Before Christmas composer Danny Elfman while directing Pee-wee's Big Adventure in 1985. This collaboration continued over many years, resulting in many other famous films such as Batman and Beetlejuice. A Netflix documentary, The Holiday Movies That Made Us, claimed that by 1989, Tim Burton was the most famous director in Hollywood. Although he directed many films that received box-office fame, Tim Burton still wanted to make his holiday-film dream come true. In the Netflix documentary, Nightmare Before Christmas producer Kathleen Gavin described Tim Burton's eagerness to create the film and how he approached Disney. He wanted them to sell the story and artwork back, and they were more than happy to do just that...So long as he was attached to the film. (Volk-Weiss, 2020)
Making Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas began production in 1991. Many parts of the script were unfinished during the first few months. To get back on track, Tim Burton contacted Danny Elfman who immediately began writing songs based on Tim Burton's descriptions of scenes. This gave the animators and directors something to work with while the script was being written. (Volk-Weiss, 2020)
The first scene to be filmed was "What's This," a song that takes place in Christmas Town. They started animating “What’s This” first because it was cheerful and more pleasing to Disney. In an interview, animator Mike Belzer states: "If you show them [Disney] the corpse kid with the eyes stapled shut and stuff from the get-go, it’s like, I don’t know, maybe they’ll balk on this and, you know, pull the plug" (Volk-Weiss, 2020). Eventually, Caroline Thompson joined the crew as the new screen writer and completed writing the script, allowing the animators and producers to begin working on other scenes.
Painting by Makenzie Hudson
While The Nightmare Before Christmas was filming, Tim Burton was directing Batman Returns. Because of this, Tim asked his friend Henry Selick to direct The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film took two years to create, amassing over 100,000 shots of footage with a final budget of 24 million dollars (Volk-Weiss, 2020). Before the film was finished, Tim Burton and Henry Selick decided to replace Danny Elfman's speaking parts as Jack Skellington, claiming his acting felt "wooden and stiff" (Volk-Weiss, 2020). This is where Chris Sarandon comes in. In an interview with Chris Sarandon, he states: "I think in some ways it was just serendipitous that it was luck as it often happens, by the way in this business, that my voice matched Danny's."
The film took two years to create, amassing over 100,000 shots of footage with a final budget of 24 million dollars. However, it was not an immediate success. During a test preview with children, Disney decided to lower the film's movie rating to PG and placed on Touchstone Pictures, one of Disney's sister companies. The Nightmare Before Christmas only made around $50 million dollars in the box office, earning back the cost of it's budget. It wasn't until the film was released on VHS and DVD that it earned it's cult following. Now, it is one of the most recognizable holiday films of all time. (Volk-Weiss, 2020).
Painting by Makenzie Hudson
Painting by Makenzie Hudson
During the Netflix interview, Chris Sarandon states: "I can’t tell you how many young people have come up to me and have said, 'This movie saved my life.' And very often, they’re kids who are outsiders" (Volk-Weiss, 2020). This film holds a special place in the hearts of many, not just because of it's holiday status or artistic style, but because of the message it sends to viewers.