Disney is reportedly considering a follow up to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in the form of an animated or live-action sequel.
Videos by ComicBook.com
As claimed by Moviehole, there’s talks at the studio to “do something with Nightmare Before Christmas — probably a sequel but live-action possible.”
The Henry Selick-directed 1993 stop-motion animated musical, inspired by a poem penned by former Disney animator Burton, won $75 million at the box office in its original theatrical release. It was later reissued to theaters in 3D between 2006 and 2009.
Nightmare proved such a favorite it launched a continuous stream of merchandise and inspired an annual holiday-themed overlay at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction.
When helping Disney in 2006 oversee its transfer to 3D under Industrial Light & Magic, Burton said he was against a sequel.
“I was always very protective of [Nightmare], not to do sequels or things of that kind. You know, ‘Jack visits Thanksgiving world’ or other kinds of things, just because I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it,” Burton told MTV.
“Because it’s not a mass-market kind of thing, it was important to kind of keep that purity of it. I try to respect people and keep the purity of the project as much as possible.”
A lone follow up exists in the form of a comic book, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero’s Journey, centered around the ghostly dog of Jack Skellington.
Disney has since mined its catalogue of animated classics, re-imagining them for the big screen — two of which were directed by Burton, 2010’s billion dollar grosser Alice in Wonderland and the upcoming Dumbo — including updated takes on Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, and soon Aladdin and The Lion King.
Sean Bailey, president of Motion Picture Production at Walt Disney Studios, credits chairman Alan Horn with pushing for a growing slate of new films inspired by its most cherished animated classics.
“We thought if Iron Man and Thor and Captain America are Marvel superheroes, then maybe Alice, Cinderella, Mowgli, and Belle are our superheroes, and Cruella and Maleficent are our supervillains,” Bailey previously told Vulture.
“Maybe if there’s a way to reconnect with that affinity for what those characters mean to people in a way that gets the best talent and uses the best technology, that could become something really exciting. It feels very Disney, playing to the competitive advantages of this label.”
Live-action re-imaginings now in the works at Disney include Mulan, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Cruella and Lilo & Stitch.
Dumbo releases March 29, followed by Aladdin May 24 and The Lion King July 19.
