It’s almost spooky season (or it’s been spooky season for two weeks, if you happen to live in my house), which means that it’s The Nightmare Before Christmas season as well. The 1993 stop-motion animation movie co-written by Tim Burton and directed by Henry Selick is a classic, and in our current times of sequels, revivals and reboots, one can’t but wonder if the creators have ever thought about revisiting that world.
Collider asked Selick that very question. The filmmaker admitted that the idea of a sequel has come up several times. “Initially, [Disney] always said, ‘But it will have to be CG,’” Selick added. “And that was a non-starter for me. It certainly was for Tim Burton.”
I certainly have no desire to see a CG version of Nightmare Before Christmas either, though I’m sure from Disney’s perspective, fronting the money for a full stop-animation feature is the opposite of inexpensive. A short, however, takes less time and money to make than a feature. Perhaps that would be an option for Selick and Burton?
“The idea of a short has never come up in the past,” Selick said. “I think that Tim might be open to a short. It would have to be so refreshing … such a new take to justify making a sequel, but a short makes good sense.”
Selick was especially excited about “a short that’s about Zero” that would give “his viewpoint of the world or a day in his life.”
“I think that’s a fantastic idea,” he added. “And doable. I predict Tim would back [it] then.”
Let’s hope Burton and/or Disney are listening—who knows? Maybe we’ll get a Zero-centered short to enjoy during a future spooky season.
In the meantime, we can rewatch The Nightmare Before Christmas on Disney+.
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