Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion.Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion.Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion.
- Director
- Writers
- Tim Burton(story and characters)
- Michael McDowell(adaptation)
- Caroline Thompson(screenplay)
- Stars
- Danny Elfman(voice)
- Chris Sarandon(voice)
- Catherine O'Hara(voice)
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Tim Burton(story and characters)
- Michael McDowell(adaptation)
- Caroline Thompson(screenplay)
- Stars
- Danny Elfman(voice)
- Chris Sarandon(voice)
- Catherine O'Hara(voice)
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 6 wins & 17 nominations total
Videos11
Catherine O'Hara
- Sallyas Sally
- (voice)
- …
Glenn Shadix
- Mayoras Mayor
- (voice)
Paul Reubens
- Lockas Lock
- (voice)
Edward Ivory
- Santaas Santa
- (voice)
- (as Ed Ivory)
Greg Proops
- Harlequin Demonas Harlequin Demon
- (voice)
- (as Gregory Proops)
- …
Sherwood Ball
- Mummyas Mummy
- (voice)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- Tim Burton(story and characters)
- Michael McDowell(adaptation)
- Caroline Thompson(screenplay)
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 2001, Walt Disney Pictures began to consider producing a sequel, but rather than using stop motion, Disney wanted to use computer animation. Tim 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."
- Goofs(at around 37 mins) In "Kidnap the Sandy Claws," just before Lock launches Barrel across the room, Lock is singing and his words are aligned. But when Barrel begins to sing, Lock's lips are moving to the words that Barrel should be singing. Barrel's lips don't move at all.
- Quotes
Jack Skellington: [singing] Just because I cannot see it, doesn't mean I can't believe it!
- Crazy creditsNo credits are shown, except the company and the film's name.
- Alternate versionsThe special edition DVD version has never-before-seen footage of this movie and are the following:
- Lock, Shock and Barrel (the trick-or-treaters) are bored so they grab some snacks and go inside their cage/elevator to watch oogie boogie torture Santa and Sally. And later, a thought to be dead Jack Skellington enters the lair by jumping on the cage/elevator with the kids inside and he scares them which can explain how he got inside the lair at the nick of time. Pictures of the scene were in the promotional booklets, postcard books, and storybooks.
- Jack's further experiments with Christmas such as having a illustrating "Sandy Claws" as a human/lobster hybrid.
- a deleted part of oogie boogie's song that shows his shadow dancing.
- a scene where the vampires are playing hockey with the head of Tim Burton, this was corrected and Tim's head was replaced with a Jack O' Lantern.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (1993)
Top review
A true must see for all Halloween fans
I am not a big Tim Burton fan, but this movie is in my top 3 of all time. Perhaps the fact that Halloween is my favorite holiday influenced my opinion, but I doubt it. The more I hear and read about this movie, the more I love it.
Based on a parody of the famous "Night before Christmas" poem by Moore that Burton wrote and illustrated while employed at Disney, this idea was stagnant for many years prior to filming. In many ways this was a good thing, technology was able to catch up to Burton's ideas.
In NBC, we see our hero Jack Skellington, aka The Pumpkin King, depressed as another Halloween passes. In the background we hear the residents of Halloween Town celebrate another wonderful holiday. But Jack is sad. The only one who notices is the Rag Doll-style woman Sally.
Other characters, including many town-monsters, are introduced. We meet the wonderful mayor with two faces, the evil scientist and his assistant, three local children and our evil boogie-man.
After an accident, Jack develops a plan to kidnap "Sandy Claws" and give presents out for Christmas in place of Christmas Town. You will have to view this movie to discover the rest.
The claymation is not what I expected, it was of a high quality and the movements are not jerky like the old Christmas Specials. Danny Elfman's music has little resemblance to his work with Ongo Bongo and "What's this?" (which Jack sings when he discovers the colorful world of Christmas Town) is closer to a tune mixed from Cabaret and The Music Man. The voices match the mouth movements nearly perfectly. This was a project from the heart and all the little touches to make it 'just' right show this fact.
Based on a parody of the famous "Night before Christmas" poem by Moore that Burton wrote and illustrated while employed at Disney, this idea was stagnant for many years prior to filming. In many ways this was a good thing, technology was able to catch up to Burton's ideas.
In NBC, we see our hero Jack Skellington, aka The Pumpkin King, depressed as another Halloween passes. In the background we hear the residents of Halloween Town celebrate another wonderful holiday. But Jack is sad. The only one who notices is the Rag Doll-style woman Sally.
Other characters, including many town-monsters, are introduced. We meet the wonderful mayor with two faces, the evil scientist and his assistant, three local children and our evil boogie-man.
After an accident, Jack develops a plan to kidnap "Sandy Claws" and give presents out for Christmas in place of Christmas Town. You will have to view this movie to discover the rest.
The claymation is not what I expected, it was of a high quality and the movements are not jerky like the old Christmas Specials. Danny Elfman's music has little resemblance to his work with Ongo Bongo and "What's this?" (which Jack sings when he discovers the colorful world of Christmas Town) is closer to a tune mixed from Cabaret and The Music Man. The voices match the mouth movements nearly perfectly. This was a project from the heart and all the little touches to make it 'just' right show this fact.
helpful•8623
- CheshireCatsGrin
- Dec 12, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3-D
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $18,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $77,368,668
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $191,232
- Oct 17, 1993
- Gross worldwide
- $91,221,845
- Runtime1 hour 16 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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