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As per Henry Selick, there’s much more for The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) icon Jack Skellington.
Directorial debuts don’t get much more iconic than The Nightmare Before Christmas.
After years of working as an “in-betweener” (the term given to those who animate intermediate frames between key frames) at Walt Disney Animation, Henry Selick teamed up with Tim Burton – who many often mistakenly credit for directing the film – to create the quasi-Christmas-Halloween film for Disney through its Touchstone Pictures label.
Credit: Disney
While the studio believed the film would be “too dark and scary for kids,” The Nightmare Before Christmas has gone on to become a cult classic.
Over 30 years since its release, the film – which follows Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), the King of “Halloween Town,” in his efforts to take over Christmas – has a spot on the National Film Registry, having been nominated by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”
Despite Disney’s early concerns, the film also has a place within Disney theme parks. The Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise (perhaps too much merchandise) can be found at Disney resorts worldwide, particularly around Halloween time.
At Disneyland Park and Tokyo Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay sees The Nightmare Before Christmas integrated into the iconic attraction over both Halloween and Christmas.
Credit: Disney
Disneyland Resort has also named its Halloween party, Oogie Boogie Bash, after the film’s antagonist. Every year, spooky season is heralded with the arrival of a giant Oogie Boogie constructed over the entrance of Disney California Adventure Park.
Considering its legacy, many have questioned why Disney – which isn’t exactly sequel-shy – hasn’t commissioned a follow-up to the stop-motion animation. Rumors have swirled for years, with Disney apparently strongly considering a second film that used computer animation in 2003.
Burton reportedly convinced Disney to ditch the film. “I was always very protective of [The Nightmare Before Christmas], not to do sequels or things of that kind,” he explained.
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As recently as October 2023, Selick has stated that he would be interested in a prequel about how Jack became king of Halloween Town. Burton, however, remains resistant, stating a month later that he didn’t want to tell more stories in that universe. As he told Empire, “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.”
But as it turns out, there are actually more stories about Jack Skellington—we just didn’t know they existed.
Credit: Disney
Selick recently spoke to GamesRadar+ to mark the 15th anniversary of another of his films, Coraline (2009), where he revealed that there’s actually an image of Jack in all four of the movies directed after The Nightmare Before Christmas.
“If you look very, very carefully, you might find that there’s some image of Jack in every other film I’ve made,” he said. “But I can’t legally say that’s true, but it might be true … I’d say, look at breakfast in Coraline, you might find something in the breakfast.”
Credit: Disney
As GamesRadar+ notes, the scene in question sees Jack’s face appear in an egg cracked by The Other Mother. In James and the Giant Peach (1996), the captain of a gang of skeletal pirates looks extremely similar to Jack and is nicknamed “Skellington.” The Pumpkin King also appears in the credits of Wendell and Wild (2022).
The timing and context of his appearance in Selick’s other film, Monkeybone (2001), remains a mystery for now.
Sure, it may not be the Jack Skellingon sequel (or prequel) we wanted, but considering The Nightmare Before Christmas‘ cultural legacy, perhaps it’s best we just leave the Pumpkin King to his cameos for now.
Do you think Disney should ever make The Nightmare Before Christmas 2?
