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Writer's pictureAaron Fonseca

'No, Absolutely Not': Nightmare Before Christmas Director Explains Turning Down Sequel Pitches


Sequels have become a given in Hollywood especially after a movie with an original idea is successful. However, Henry Selick, the director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas, has ruled out a follow-up to his successful 1993 stop-motion film.


"It's been discussed forever at various times in the past," Selick told GamesRadar+when asked if he had ever considered developing a sequel. "I was told 'Oh, we want to do a sequel, but it has to be CGI' and I said 'No, absolutely not,'" he continued. "But you don't want to ruin something by, killing the golden goose. Doing a sequel or a prequel can destroy that. I mean, by the time of Jaws six, the shark movies… they'd really beat that shark to death."


While Selick is not interested in a sequel, the filmmaker is happy that the original is reaching new audiences. "You know, it's fantastic to work very hard on something that kind of comes and goes and then turns out to have a longer life in it," he said. "The films find new fans, especially in The Nightmare case that has made it to the children of original fans, second generation… it'll be a third generation before long. It's incredibly rewarding and just feels like, yeah, that worked out pretty nicely."

Per the official synopsis, The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the "misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloween Town's beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with his annual routine of frightening people in the real world. When Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmas Town, he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans of mice and skeleton men can go seriously awry."



The Nightmare Before Christmas Began With Tim Burton


The main voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix, and Ed Ivory. The Nightmare Before Christmas began as a poem Tim Burton wrote in 1982 while he worked as an animator at Walt Disney Productions. After working for years to adapt the idea into a movie, Disney decided to release it under the Touchstone Pictures label, thinking it might be "too dark and scary for kids."

Burton was asked about a sequel in 2023 and immediately shot down the idea. "To me the movie is very important," he said. "I've done sequels, I've done other things, I've done reboots, I've done all that sh*t, right? I don't want that to happen to this. It's nice that people are maybe interested [in a follow-up], but I'm not. I feel like that old guy who owns a little piece of property and won't sell to the big power-plant that wants to take my land."

The Nightmare Before Christmas is streaming on Disney+.

Source: GamesRadar+



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