The Nightmare Before Christmas or Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 Disney animated film initially released through Touchstone Pictures. It is the central influence for Haunted Mansion Holiday in Disneyland and Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare in Tokyo Disneyland. Additionally, it holds connections to secrets in the Walt Disney World incarnation of the Haunted Mansion.
It was directed by Henry Sellick and based on a Tim Burton poem of the same name. Contrary to popular belief, Tim Burton did not direct the film as he was pre-occupied with directing Batman Returns (1992). He did however produce and executive-produce the film in-addition to having been the one who drove Disney to produce it since he worked as an animator for them.
Plot[]
The film centres around Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town who becomes tired of Halloween and decides to take on Christmas for the year with himself as, "Sandy Claws". However, things go macabre and chaotic when the two holidays meet.
Connections to the Haunted Mansion[]
Disneyland[]
Disneyland has the annual Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay in-which the mansion is turned into a holiday attraction themed around the Nightmare Before Christmas. Characters, items and music can be found throughout the attraction taken from the film.
Several of Disneyland's tombs in the Pet Cemetery have designs that appear to be inspired by the artwork of director Tim Burton, namely from the Nightmare Before Christmas and Frankenweenie. The Haunted Mansion gift-shop Port Royal Curios & Curiosities also features Nightmare Before Christmas theming and merchandise throughout the year.
Tokyo Disneyland[]
Tokyo Disneyland has the annual Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare overlay in-which the mansion is turned into a holiday attraction themed around the Nightmare Before Christmas. Characters, items and music can be found throughout the attraction taken from the film. While its Disneyland counterpart leaves it ambiguous about whether or not it takes place during the events of the original film, dialog in Tokyo Disneyland indicates that the Mansion was Jack's first stop.
Walt Disney World[]
Several, "Hidden Jacks" and even a hidden Sally can be found throughout this Haunted Mansion. This is because the imagineers and/or cast-members who worked this incarnation of the ride wanted a connection to the film after learning they couldn't have their own take of Haunted Mansion Holiday (due to this mansion being more visited by guests and it not being efficient to theme a Halloween ride around Christmas during the Halloween season).
Trivia[]
- At one point in time, the movie was planned to have its own thrill-ride attraction in Disneyland.
- The films music was composed (and sometimes performed) by singer/songwriter Danny Elfman who also scored the attraction Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland.
- According to the newspaper article of the Gracey Manor from September 22, 1935 in Camp Discovery, Jack Skellington and Zero were encountered by the Johnson family in 1935, which was the year Jack first came to the mansion, this indicates that The Nightmare Before Christmas was set in the 1930s.