With The Nightmare Before Christmas celebrating its 30th anniversary, there’s been the expected chatter about sequels, reboots, and probably a lone lunatic advocating for a Disney live-action remake. One man who is very much not keen on any of that is its creator Tim Burton.
Burton Wants No More Nightmares
Speaking to Empire Magazine for the film’s anniversary, Burton feels strongly about the prospect of any more The Nightmare Before Christmas movies.
“To me, the movie is very important,” he told Empire. “I’ve done sequels, I’ve done other things, I’ve done reboots, I’ve done all that shit, right? I don’t want that to happen to this. It’s nice that people are maybe interested [in another one], 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.”
Burton follows that up with an impression you can almost hear in writing, ”Get off my land! You pesky little… You ain’t getting this property! I don’t care what you want to build on it. You come on my property… Where’s my shotgun?”
Director Henry Selick had been asked about more Nightmare in recent months, and was a little warmer to it, suggesting a prequel might be fun to do, but even he noted Burton was unlikely to want that.
“I think Tim [Burton], in particular, feels like, why mess with that? He certainly doesn’t need to make more money from a sequel. He has had so many other successes, and so far nobody’s come up with a great idea for a sequel. And I still think that Tim gets to decide. I don’t think there’s any idea that would convince him.”
The Nightmare Before Christmas anniversary celebrations have seen a theatrical re-release, a concert with the original Jack and Sally, an appearance by Jack in Fortnite, as well as a behind-the-scenes book and a new figurine of the Pumpkin King.
