For many of us,The Nightmare Before Christmashas become as much of a holiday tradition as the stop-motion animation classics that inspired it. Jack, Sally, Zero, and the rest of Halloween Town have enchanted our imaginations (and filled our collectibles shelves) ever since the movie arrived in theaters in October 1993. And with it now so readily available to watch on Disney+, it appears that tradition isn’t going away any time soon.
Despite the movie still beingas enduringly popular as ever, there are many things even hardcore fans may not know about the mishmash holiday film. So, in the interest of learning something new, here’s a look at 15 things you never knew aboutThe Nightmare Before Christmas.
15The Nightmare Before Christmas Began as a Poem
Clement Clark Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” is more commonly referred to asThe Night Before Christmas, thanks to its opening line, “‘Twas the night before Christmas.“Tim Burton, who grew up in Southern California, has said he was inspired by the collision of holiday decorations in stores as the seasonal sections switched from Halloween to Christmas. As he toiled away as an animator at Disney, he started to work on his own projects, too, including the poem turned stop-motion animation shortVincentand aparody of The Night Before Christmas, which included Jack Skellington and his ghost dog companion, Zero.
14Burton First Envisioned It as a TV Special
It’s no secret thatThe Nightmare Before Christmaswas greatly inspired by stop-motion holiday classics made by Rankin/Bass Productions, the company founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass. Their stop-motion TV specials included 1964’sRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeerwith Burl Ives, 1971’sHere Comes Peter Cottontailwith Danny Kaye, and 1979’sJack Frostwith Buddy Hackett. Burton initially pitchedThe Nightmare Before Christmasas something similar, which could play annually.
13The Nightmare Before Christmas Wasn’t Directed by Tim Burton
Weird right? We aren’t trying to insult anyone’s intelligence who knew this already, and one can certainly be forgiven for making this mistake. After all, the filmmaker behindBeetlejuiceandPee Wee’s Big Adventuregets top billing here. Burton came up with the story and the look and feel of the characters, butThe Nightmare Before Christmaswas actually the directorial debut of Henry Selick.
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Burton, as producer, had his old colleague from Disney direct, freeing him up to finishBatman Returns.It turns out thatthe confusion hasn’t gone unnoticed by Selick, who is less than impressed that he is often not credited as the film’s director.
12It Took Three Years to Make
At only 76 minutes long,The Nightmare Before Christmasis certainly at the short end of what constitutes a feature film. It might be surprising then to learn that the film took three years to make. This is largely because a stop-motion movie on this scale hadn’t been done before, with just one minute of film taking a whole week to make and the film as a whole consisting of over 100,000 frames in total. As well as taking lots of time, it also required a great deal of manpower. -120 crew members are thought to have played a role in bringing the film to life. All in all, not an easy job.
11Over 200 Puppets Were Used
In the film, the towns of Halloween and Christmas are populated by an array of whacky characters, all with their own unique look. In total, more than 200 different puppets were created during production, each coming with their own selection of facial expressions. In fact, Jack Skellington alone had 400 different expressions to convey a range of emotions.
10Disney Wanted Jack to Have Eyes
Understandably, the studio was operating under the conventional wisdom when it comes to animated characters and puppets that insist on having eyes. After all, eyes are the windows to the soul, right? They help make cartoon characters relatable. But Burton was adamant that Jack Skellington roll out with his empty sockets. He won.
9Henry Selick Gave Jack His Suit
Henry Selick turned the all-black outfit originally sketched by Burton into a sleek slim-fit suit. Not only was this a great choice for what would become an iconic holiday character, but it also served a pragmatic purpose: the white pinstripes prevented Jack from disappearing against the many black backgrounds on film.
8Vincent Price Was the Original voice of Santa Claus
Vincent Price was the original voice of Santa Claus (or “Sandy Claws” as Halloween Town’s residents mistakenly call him). Burton idolized the horror icon and was able to convince him to narrate his 1982 short, Vincent, about a young boy who emulates the late screen legend. He was later able to cast him inEdward Scissorhands. Sadly, Price’s wife passed away shortly before his work began onThe Nightmare Before Christmas. Selick felt he simply sounded too sad to be Santa and made the difficult choice to recast the voice role, handing it to Edward Ivory.
7Disney Chose to Release the Movie via Touchstone Films
The Nightmare Before Christmaswasn’t exactly the kind of straightforward family fare expected from Walt Disney Studios when production began in the early ’90s. So Disney released it through their Touchstone Pictures brand instead, the label that released the studio’s first R-rated film,Down and Out in Beverly Hills, in 1986. Yet following the film’s recent resurgence in popularity, later rerelease now put the classic Disney logo before it.
6It Was Nominated for an Oscar
Upon its release, the film was widely praised among critics who praised its originality, mix of laughs and scares, and stunning visuals. In fact, people were so impressed with how the film looked that it ended up earning an Academy Award nomination at the 66th annual ceremony in 1993 for Best Visual Effects. What’s even more impressive is that this was the first time an animated film had been nominated in this category.
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Unfortunately,The Nightmare Before Christmasdidn’t end up winning, withJurassic Parktaking home the prize instead. However, the film did pick up two Saturn Awards as well as a Golden Globe nomination, so it didn’t do too badly.
