It doesn’t look like The Nightmare Before Christmas will be receiving a sequel. The 1993 animated stop-motion musical was led by director Henry Selick and creator Tim Burton. With Jack Skellington discovering Christmas Town, Halloween and Christmas are thrown into a true war. The movie was so successful that it was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, and it even earned $91.5 million at the box office on a budget of $24 million.
Despite its success, Burton isn’t interested in continuing with a sequel after the iconic Nightmare Before Christmas ending. In an interview with People, Selick revealed that the creator has no interest in continuing the story. With so many other successful movies and no ideas left for this particular world, Burton is happy to just leave the movie without a sequel. Check out Selick’s quote below:
“A perfect movie [that] came out of the perfect time, only to grow into something far bigger over the years. I think Tim 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.”
Nightmare Before Christmas 2 Isn’t Necessary
As beloved as Nightmare Before Christmas is, Burton and Selick are right that a follow-up really isn’t needed. While Hollywood is rife with unnecessary sequels and adaptations, Burton has no need to pile additional movies onto his resume. He already has Wednesday and Beetlejuice‘s sequel as upcoming projects. Returning to Halloweentown without any real purpose would just be a pointless endeavor that would distract him from his other work.
There is really no need to create more in this universe. It was an original project from the beginning, as Nightmare Before Christmas’ origins can be directly traced to a poem that Burton himself wrote about Halloween and Christmas. Just by choosing to create an original project, Burton was already bucking Hollywood trends. By refusing a sequel, he is returning to the movie’s roots and avoiding Hollywood’s constant desire to push sequels. It also helps to ensure that the project remains as true to his vision as possible.
Jack Skellington and Sally have already had their perfect ending. As nice as it would be to return to see how their lives have developed since the movie ended, it would be difficult to match the expectations of viewers, who have had decades to picture their future. For the time being, it seems that The Nightmare Before Christmas will never get a sequel.
