Danny Elfman Weighs in on Heated The Nightmare Before Christmas Debate (And He’s Right)

Disney’s The Nightmare Before Christmas landed in theaters on October 29, 1993, and for the past three decades, the movie has been celebrated every September through December. While the themes of the movie make it an appropriate watch for both Halloween and Christmas, fans have drawn a line in the sand over whether the movie is more appropriate for one holiday than the other. While speaking with ComicBook at the grand opening of Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida, Danny Elfman, who provided Jack Skellington with his singing voice and composed the music for the movie, entered the debate by saying the movie was meant for both holidays, but he thinks its true heart is in Halloween.

“Well, technically, it’s both. But for me, it’s still a Halloween movie because I’m a Halloween baby. Halloween is my favorite night of the year,” Elfman confirmed. “I did voice Jack Skellington, who is Halloweenland, and even though Jack loves Christmasland, and I love singing about and writing songs about Christmasland, in Jack’s heart, he’s still the king of Halloweenland, come on now. He’s the Pumpkin King, not the Christmas Tree King.”

With the film exploring how Jack feels as though his creative talents are being wasted on Halloween and how he has a lot to contribute towards Christmas, it allows the experience to put a creepy and macabre spin on Christmas iconography. Jack’s acceptance of being the Pumpkin King can be seen as his acceptance that his heart will always belong to Halloween, which can be seen as confirmation that the movie is a tribute to Halloween.

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Chris Sarandon, who provided Jack with his speaking voicing, previously shared with ComicBook in 2019, “I know that there are a lot of fans who come up to me saying, ‘We watch it every Halloween,’ and I have fans that come up and say, ‘We watch it every Christmas,’ I have fans who come up and say, ‘We watch it at both Christmas and Halloween.’ What’s the debate? It’s what pleases the people who watch it most, the audience, that’s what’s important. It’s the fans. It’s the people who it had a profound effect on over these years.”

Director Henry Selick similarly thinks the movie is a great fit for either holiday, having shared with ComicBook in 2024, “At the very beginning, when Tim Burton came up with this original idea in the ’80s at Disney, when it was intended to be a half-hour TV special in stop-motion, at the very beginning, I saw it as a mashup, that it’s both … Then subsequently, when we actually made the film as a feature, I might have tended to answer one way, but I’ve arrived at the original feeling. It is a mashup. It is a perfect collision between those two holidays. So there’s no better answer than both. It is both, and it’s its own thing. It’s a great celebration of Halloween that can last all the way into Christmas.”

Elfman was in attendance at the grand opening of Epic Universe, as he helped contribute music to the park’s Dark Universe. In Dark Universe, guests will explore the shadowy village of Darkmoor – home to Universal Monster legends like Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s Monster, and more. The icon of this ominous world is Frankenstein Manor, where guests will venture deep into its catacombs and face a horde of enraged monsters on Universal Orlando’s most chilling attraction ever – Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.

Epic Universe is now open in Orlando, Florida.

Do you think The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween or Christmas movie? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!