Every year, streaming services are dominate by spooky family favorites and dark, twisted horror movies as Halloween approaches. This year is no different with several iconic fantasy and horror films dancing around the top of various streaming charts including one Tim Burton movie that he didn’t direct but comes with every hallmark you would expect to see in the films he was behind the camera for. Perhaps what is more impressive is that this particular iconic movie is one that was not a huge success on its original release and sat in obscurity for several years until…well, not even those involved in making the movie quite know why, but it became one of the most-loved Halloween movies of all time – and it can even be a Christmas favorite too.
We are talking about The Nightmare Before Christmas, which has topped the global Disney+ streaming chart alongside movies like Hocus Pocus, The Shining, and several Simpsons Treehouse of Horror specials. The Henry Selick-directed stop-motion animation movie that Tim Burton conjured up during his early years working at Disney had to wait almost a decade before it came to life on screen. Originally written as a poem by Burton, parodying “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” the concept was originally deemed too weird for Disney, and was rejected outright when he approached them with the idea for a TV special in the early 1980s. Jump forward in time, and after leaving the House of Mouse behind, Burton became one of the biggest directors in the business. As Disney still owned the rights to the original poem, Burton pitched the idea of the movie to them, and while it was made, their reservations about its dark overtones saw it quietly released under the Touchstone Pictures banner. While it was a moderate “sleeper hit” on its initial release, the film then dwindled into obscurity.
Tim Burton was never a director who made mainstream movies until his now-iconic style became mainstream and started producing some unforgettable hits. By the time he directed Batman, Burton was one of the most exciting names in Hollywood, and that is what essentially helped get The Nightmare Before Christmas made. However, being a stop-motion movie, the film required a lot of time, and as he was working on Batman Returns at the time, he was unable to direct the movie himself and that job fell to the exceptionally capable Henry Selick – someone who has often not getting the credit he deserved thanks to a wide belief at the time that it was all Burton’s work. When it was finally released in 1993, it was without a huge Disney fanfare but the film’s unique visuals, eccentric musicality, and Burton’s name helped it become an instant cult classic.
When the film dropped out of theaters in the months after its original October 1993 release, the movie dropped on home video almost a year later. Not being one of Disney’s big concerns – with mega-hits like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King dominating their store shelves – merchandise for the film was virtually non-existent. As The Nightmare Before Christmas finally found its wider audience, retailers began producing shirts, plates and other merchandise that appealed to lovers of goth culture, while Disney’s bosses were still distancing themselves from the film. However, several years later, the pull of Halloweentown was impossible to ignore and suddenly Jack Skellington was everywhere, even in Disney Stores around the world as the black sheep of the family found his place amongst princesses and cute animals. The rest, as they say is history.
Is The Nightmare Before Christmas on your Halloween watch list? Let us know in the comments.
