There was nothing else like Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas when it was first released in 1993. When the studio gave up its usual grip on the filmmaking process and let directors Henry Selick, Tim Burton, and composer Danny Elfman do their thing, they created something truly remarkable that diverged from the princess template. An exclusive interview with Selick was conducted by Steve Weintraub at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, where the premiere of Wendell & Wild, Selick’s latest collaboration with Oscar-winner Jordan Peele, was screened.
Obviously, Weintraub brought up Selick’s masterwork, and as a fan, he inquired as to whether or not the filmmaker had any future plans to return to the Nightmare universe. Selick has some ideas, even if a full-length sequel isn’t on the table at the moment. As much as it would be nice to return to our favourite film universes, both filmmakers and moviegoers are aware of the dangers of making a sequel. A good rule of thumb is “if it’s not Baroque, don’t repair it,” as Cogsworth says in Beauty and the Beast. Even still, the hope and the prospect of making a successful sequel or prequel are always close at hand.
When Weintraub suggested showing Nightmare again at TIFF, Selick reluctantly conceded that “There have been several mentions of a sequel. From the beginning, they all insisted that “But it will have to be CG.” And I just couldn’t get behind that idea. For Tim Burton, it very definitely was.” The stop-motion animation technique used in The Nightmare Before Christmas is a big part of the film’s charm and what makes it stand out in the minds of viewers. We wondered if the director had considered doing shorts instead, given that Disney is less likely to greenlight a complete production due to the difficulty of the animation style.
To get the studio to allow him to bring his characters to life, Burton once considered filming Nightmare as a short. What Selick had to say about the story’s continuation was, “In the past, the concept of a short has never been discussed… My guess is that Tim would be amenable to a short.” then went on to say, “It would have to be so refreshing…such a different viewpoint to warrant developing a sequel, but a short makes fantastic sense.”
With the launch of Disney+, the company now has the opportunity to produce additional media with the stated goal of establishing new canons.
Fans of the MCU may catch up on the One-Shots or dive into the limited series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision. Besides the I Am Groot and Olaf Presents series, Disney has also created Cars on the Road, a series of cartoons that continue the adventures of Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). Without the constraints of plot advancement or an extended production schedule, shorts like this allow writers to offer viewers a taste of the rich worlds they’ve built. For The Nightmare Before Christmas, Selick and Burton may have wanted more leeway to go into specific characters or world-building elements, but this would have been impossible in a single feature picture.
A short film would provide them with this opportunity. Were there not some additional Holiday Doors in the Outer Regions that we were curious about? Selick, meantime, took Weintraub’s idea and ran with it throughout the meeting; the result is brilliant. The filmmaker hinted at a Zero-centric short film, “his perspective on the universe or a day in his existence,” for an upcoming holiday special on Halloween or Christmas. Positively, he said, “That’s a brilliant plan, in my opinion. feasible in the sense that it can be accomplished. When put in that light, I believe Tim would agree with [it].” It makes absolutely no sense to not turn this into an animated short series. Disney+ now offers The Nightmare Before Christmas for streaming, and on October 21 and October 28 respectively, Wendell & Wild, Selick’s newest invention, will make its debut in select cinemas and on Netflix.