The Big Picture

• Tim Burton was essential in getting The Nightmare Before Christmas made due to its dark nature.
• Burton's cameo in the film, as a hockey puck, was cut for being too dark and gruesome.
• The film inspired Burton's venture into animation, leading to successful projects like Corpse Bride.

There are few filmmakers whose visual style and unique perspective on characterization are as instantly recognizable as that of Tim Burton. Often telling stories about outsiders and outcasts that are rejected by “civil” society, Burton’s films tend to show empathy for those who are known for being a bit weird and on the fringes of society. While these sensibilities don’t exactly seem mainstream, Burton attained significant mainstream success in the early 1990s thanks to the success of Beetlejuice and his two Batman films. This magnitude gave Burton the power to help spearhead the creative development of several other “offbeat” fantasy horror projects by idiosyncratic filmmakers, including Henry Selick’s holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas. Although he was essential in getting the film made, Burton’s cameo appearance in The Nightmare Before Christmas was cut for being too dark.

Tim Burton Inspired ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas'

Set within an enigmatic fantasy world where different towns are associated with marquee holidays, The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the lonely monster Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman), who serves as the “Pumpkin King” of Halloween Town. Despite the prominent role he plays in conducting the town’s annual Halloween festivities, Jack secretly harbors feelings of sadness about being asked to perform the same tasks every year. His desires are electrified when he visits Christmas Town, and decides to help "Sandy Claws" this year with his holiday. While the film makes use of Selick’s incredible stop-motion characters, The Nightmare Before Christmas feels very close in tone and style to Burton’s films. The unique blend of absurdist humor, sincere character drama, and flights of horror is one that Burton had perfected in his previous films.

Given how dark the film is in comparison to other holiday-themed animated films, it’s unlikely that The Nightmare Before Christmas would have been made without Burton’s involvement. Serving as both a producer and story consultant on the film, Burton helped guide Selick through the difficult process of stitching together the film’s various musical numbers, idiosyncratic character models, and intricately designed locations into a coherent story. Selick admitted that the creative team “didn’t really know what we were doing, but we had total confidence and we had a huge amount of fun.” However, he mentions that Burton “knew the story very well,” and thus gave focus to what could have easily been an unwieldy production.

Although it wasn’t necessarily a significant box office hit at the time of its release, The Nightmare Before Christmas has become a holiday cult classic in recent years. With its allusions to both holiday fair and horror classics, The Nightmare Before Christmas is the rare film that can be enjoyed in both the Halloween and Christmas season. Over time, Elfman’s wondrous musical numbers became holiday hits, inspiring Walt Disney Animation to re-release the film in 3D starting in 2006. Its 30th anniversary in 2023 was celebrated with several staged recordings, memorabilia, and cinematic re-issues. It’s arguably become one of the projects that Burton is most closely associated with, even though it isn’t one that he technically directed.

Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Cameo Was Too Dark

The Nightmare Before Christmas ends on a triumphant note where Jack and Sally (Catherine O'Hara) help save Christmas from potential disaster by freeing Santa Claus (Ed Ivory) and ensuring that all the holiday presents are delivered on time. Although it signifies that Christmas Town has been restored, the ending also shows the way that Halloween Town celebrates the season by showing several monsters excitedly playing winter sports. Burton’s head was originally used as one of the pucks being hit by vampire hockey players, as Selick thought that it would be a funny way of honoring the film’s most hands-on collaborator. While the joke was made in jest, Selick made the mistake of not asking Burton’s permission beforehand.

Selick was told by one of The Nightmare Before Christmas’ producers that they “don't think Tim’s going to like that,” and forced him to remove the joke. The shot of Burton’s severed head was replaced by a pumpkin for the theatrical cut, with Selick admitting that he doesn’t “know if that shot still exists, but I’d love to replace the one in there and I’m sure Tim would love it." Given how popular the film’s theatrical re-releases have been, it doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.

Although he has since regretted the miscommunication, Selick thinks that Burton would have appreciated the joke. Given his aptitude for dark humor and self-awareness of his style, it seems likely that Burton would have appreciated a twisted joke at his own expense. However, the graphic nature of the decapitated head may have been a little bit too extreme for The Nightmare Before Christmas’ younger viewers. While it has its horrific moments, The Nightmare Before Christmas falls into the “spooky, but not scary” category.

‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Inspired Tim Burton’s Animated Movies

While stop-motion projects were still relatively rare at the time of the film’s release, Burton’s experiences making The Nightmare Before Christmas inspired his own venture into animation. 2005’s Corpse Bride marked Burton’s first animated feature, which tells a mismatched love story about a timid social outsider (Johnny Depp) who falls in love with an illustrious corpse (Helena Bonham Carter). Hailed for its emotional nuance, beautiful production design, and strong musical numbers, Corpse Bride earned Burton his first Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.

While he followed Corpse Bride with several live-action projects, Burton returned to stop-motion animation for one of the most personal film of his career. 2012’s Frankenweenie served as a feature-length adaptation of a short film that Burton had made early in his career. With some theories tying The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Frankenweenie together, it's safe to say that Burton’s work in animation may be the highlight of his career.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is now streaming on Disney+ in the U.S.

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