Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman in Netflix’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.’ Photo: Glen Wilson/Netflix.
Paul Reubens, who cemented himself as one of the most memorable entertainers for more than one generation who grew up on his work, died Sunday night. He was 70 and had been dealing with a cancer diagnosis privately for several years.
Early Career and Pee-wee Origins
Paul Reubens at the SXSW premiere of Netflix’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.’ Photo: Alli Harvey/Netflix.
Reubens was born in New York in 1952 and raised in Florida. He created Pee-wee (named for a brand of harmonica he had when he was a child) while with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings in 1978, then took the character to the stage after failing to land a spot on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1980. His performance was captured for an HBO special in 1981.
Reubens showed up in the Cheech & Chong films ‘Next Movie’ (1980) and ‘Nice Dreams’ (1981) and made the first of his many bizarre appearances on ‘Late Night With David Letterman‘ — always in character and keeping his real identity a secret — in 1982.
He starred as the bow tie-wearing Pee-wee during a tour of the States, including a stop at Carnegie Hall in 1984, and then in Warner Bros’ ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’ (1985), directed by Tim Burton, followed by the sequel, Randal Kleiser’s ‘Big Top Pee-wee’ in 1988.
Reubens really came into his own on CBS Saturday morning children’s program ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse,’ with 45 episodes running for five seasons from 1986-91. The eye-popping, candy-colored series won 22 Emmy Awards.
Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman in Netflix’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.’ Photo: Glen Wilson/Netflix.
Reubens’ image as a beloved childhood hero was tarnished when, in 1991, he was arrested for indecent exposure at an adult movie theater in Sarasota, Florida. At the center of a national sex scandal, Reubens backed away from Pee-wee and began doing press as himself.
He wouldn’t again reprise the iconic role until 2010, when he revived ‘The Pee-wee Herman Show’ on Broadway and made several other appearances, on ‘WWE Raw’ and in a couple of digital sketches for Funny or Die. In 2016, Reubens co-wrote and starred in Netflix’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,’ a sequel to ‘Big Top,’ which would serve as Reubens’ final film role before his death.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
The post also included this from his estate:
“Last night we said farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comedian, writer and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of children and adults with his positivity, whimsy and belief in the importance of kindness. Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit. A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit.”
Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman in Netflix’s ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday.’ Photo: Glen Wilson/Netflix.
If luminaries like Bernard Herrmann, Ennio Morricone, John Barry and John Williams embody an older, perhaps “classic” generation of film music, Danny Elfman, along with Stewart Copeland, Mark Mothersbaugh and others heralded the arrival of composers who began their career as pop and rock artists before transitioning into the work for which they have become best known – film scores. Elfman, born on May 29, was a member of the band Oingo Boingo for over 20 years, but began composing film music in the late 1970s before making his breakthrough with the score to his brother’s film “Forbidden Zone,” and three years later, the first of dozens of partnerships with Tim Burton on “Pee-wee’s Big Adventures.” In honor of Elfman’s birthday, we’re taking a look back at just a handful of the film and television projects that not only earned him acclaim, but cemented his status as one of the most beloved and recognizable composers in modern music.
Warner Bros.
“Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) – Searching for the sound of Paul Reubens’ whimsical road trip to recover a stolen bicycle, Elfman borrows from Nino Rota’s scores for “8 ½” and “The Clowns,” creating an indelible calling card that would establish him as one of Hollywood’s most idiosyncratic and instantly-recognizable composers.
Warner Bros.
“Beetlejuice” (1988) – Elfman’s next outing with Burton would not only become equally famous but helped establish the sound that defined much of his work for the next few years — gothic, mischievous music driven by propulsive, low-end brass and embellished by soaring choral arrangements.
Warner Bros.
“Batman” (1989) – Effectively setting a musical template for superhero movies that would help reintroduce them to audiences, Elfman won his first and only Grammy cribbing the main theme from Burton’s film from a few notes of Gottfried Huppertz’ “Die Nibelungen” for what remains one of the most identifiable superhero themes outside John Williams’ for “Superman.”
20th Century Fox
“The Simpsons” (1989) – Elfman made a detour into television with this, possibly one of the most famous themes in the medium’s history. Though Alf Clausen skillfully expanded it for the series, Elfman’s music dug in like an earworm, establishing the tone of the show for decades to come.
20th Century Fox
“Edward Scissorhands” (1990) – Burton and Elfman had become a bygone conclusion by 1990, when they teamed up for this Christmas-themed gothic romance that indulged the filmmaker’s outsider impulses for what became yet another signature work for both artists.
Walt Disney Studios
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) – Elfman worked triple duty as composer, songwriter and singer in this future Hot Topic favorite, providing the singing voice of its misguided hero Jack Skellington and proving his instincts as a performer in his own right were still as sharp as ever.
Miramax
“Good Will Hunting” (1997) – Elfman won his second Oscar nomination with this delicate, guitar-driven score for Gus Van Sant’s film about a troubled prodigy and his relationship with a scruffy therapist. Merging his sound with singer-songwriter Eliot Smith’s, Elfman broke new ground in his filmography and showcased his evolving versatility.
Sony Pictures
“Spider-Man” (2002) – Elfman again helped define a new era of superhero movie music with this distinctive and memorable score for Sam Raimi’s film. Raimi shares in common with Burton a unique, idiosyncratic personality as a filmmaker, which undoubtedly made him and Elfman great collaborators.
Sony Pictures
“Big Fish” (2003) – Burton’s then-most-mature film to date challenged Elfman to create something that combined the magic of the filmmaker’s earlier work with more somber and grounded tones, and he pulled it off, earning Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for his work.
Focus Features
“Milk” (2008) – Another Van Sant collaboration, another nomination: Elfman once again complemented the filmmaker’s thoughtful, sensitive work with a score that communicated the drive and humanity of their real-life protagonist, nabbing Oscar and Grammy nods in the process.
Warner Bros.
“Justice League” (2017) – After more than 25 years as a composer, Elfman is so prolific that it’s hard to top himself, or to do something he hadn’t before. For Zack Snyder’s team-up film, Elfman beautifully combines music from his own repertoire (the ‘89s “Batman”) with work from other contemporary superhero films and an homage to Williams’ iconic ’78 “Superman” music for an irresistible mix tape of heroic themes.
With just about every Disney film ever made getting a live-action reboot, the latest rumor has the studio eyeing a live version of ’90s stop-motion classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Sure, lots of people have cosplayed as Jack Skellington, Sally, and Oogie Boogie, but is that something people want to see as a movie? As the source of the rumor, Moviehole puts it, do fans really want “an A-lister in a skeleton-suit”?
The upside of the rumor is that a sequel, presumably stop-motion, might happen instead.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” already has a sequel of sorts: TokyoPop released the comic-book, “Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero’s Journey,” about Jack Skellington’s dog Zero getting lost in Christmas Town.
Back in 2006, producer Tim Burton said he didn’t see the need for a sequel, telling MTV: “I was always very protective of [the movie], 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.”
The stop-motion marvel, directed by the great Henry Selick, remains the crown jewel of Burton’s stop-motion output (and he didn’t even direct it), full of the kind of darkly humorous personality and rococo visual grandeur that we’ve come to expect from the director of “Batman,” “Beetlejuice,” and “Edward Scissorhands.” And while since it’s become a staple of not one but two holidays, it’s easy to take its masterfulness for granted.
But here are nine things you probably didn’t know about “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which will probably make it even more special (again). The following is best enjoyed with either a cup of eggnog or a giant mound of Halloween candy. It’s up to you.
Touchstone
1. Tim Burton Originally Developed the Idea While Working As an Animator for Disney
It’s very hard to imagine Tim Burton toiling away at Walt Disney Animation, in the pre-comeback days of the early 1980s. But that’s exactly what he did, providing largely unused concept art and animation for forgettable fare like “The Fox and the Hound” and “The Black Cauldron.” (He also contributed, even more bafflingly, to “TRON.”)
Not that all of his work was middling. His time at Disney also allowed him to experiment — it’s where he made “Vincent,” a charming stop-motion short film narrated by Vincent Price, a Japanese-themed fairy tale that aired on the Disney Channel and a half-hour live-action short called “Frankenweenie.”
During his time at Disney, he also wrote a three-page poem called “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and worked with frequent collaborator Rick Heinrichs on concept art and storyboards. He also sought insight from fellow Disney animator Henry Selick, who would eventually direct the feature version. In 1982, Disney decided to develop the story into either a short film (like “Vincent”) or a holiday special (in a 1993 interview with the LA Times, Burton suggested that Vincent Price would provide narration). But in 1984, Burton was fired from Disney (admittedly, his singular style didn’t really fit in amongst all the cheery animated fables) and — for many years — the project was largely forgotten.
2. It Unexpectedly Rose from the Grave
The project had stayed on Burton’s mind, even after leaving Disney and becoming one of the most successful and sought-after filmmakers in the world. In 1990, he found out that Disney still owned the rights, so he contacted them. Co-producer Kathleen Gavin, in a documentary released around the same time as the movie, said: “When Tim Burton went back to Disney a couple of years ago and said, ‘You have a project of mine I’m still interested in doing,’ they dug out not only his treatment, but they dug out a lot of his artwork.” In the video, you can see a distinctly Tim Burton sketch of Jack, with the words “It was Zero, Jack’s ethereal friend, the best friend he had / But Jack didn’t even notice him, which made Zero very sad,” written in cursive behind Jack’s slumped figure.
Disney wanted Burton, but he was already committed to other projects; Burton wanted the creative freedom to do what he wanted.
The answer to both problems was the involvement of Selick, Burton’s old animator chum from Disney, who was brought on by Heinrichs (“I’m from the same planet, if not the same neighborhood, as Tim,” Selick says in the promotional making-of doc). Selick set up an animation studio (Skellington Productions) in San Francisco and stocked a 40,000-square-foot studio space with 120 specialized animators, artists and technicians. (According to Gavin, the team moved in July of 1991 and they had to be in production by October 1.)
“It was important to me to stay away from Los Angeles,” Selick told the Los Angeles Times in 1993. “I think that if Disney and even Tim had too much access to us, they would have gotten too nervous and gummed up the works.”
Touchstone
3. It Took a L-O-N-G Time to Make
According to Disney, they “assembled 13 of the most brilliant animators” for “The Nightmare Before Christmas” which, if you hadn’t noticed, isn’t that many animators. Disney’s official numbers are that, over a three-year period, they filled 19 soundstages with 230 sets, and “hundreds” of individual puppet characters (there are 60 characters in the movie but duplicates of most were needed). Supervising animator Eric Leighton explained in that same promotional doc that, “We’re shooting at 24 frames-per-second, which means that we have to pose the character 24 times for every second of completed film.”
The sets were constructed so that the animators wouldn’t have to reach more than two feet to adjust a puppet, and if they did have to reach further, special trap doors were built into the set. (Many of the scenes required 20-30 specialized lights to create the exaggerated, German expressionist look.)
And that’s not counting all of the work that went into the film before they even started animating, which included storyboarding the entire movie several times (Joe Ranft, a legendary Pixar contributor who died tragically in a car accident before the release of “Cars,” was the head of story.)
4. There Really Wasn’t a Script
“We didn’t really have a script, but there was a storyline that Tim had much earlier,” Danny Elfman said at the time. “We were running out of time, so I said, ‘I’ll just write some of the songs based on what we’d talked about.’ He’d come over and listen and then I’d say, ‘Let’s just talk about the next section of the movie.’ And as soon as he left, I’d write the next song. He had pictures of all these characters, so I had a really good visual stimulus to get going.”
So, yes, they had all of Burton’s original drawings, the poem, and some songs. And while the final screenplay is credited to Caroline Thompson, there was additional work by Michael McDowell, a horror novelist and “Beetlejuice” screenwriter, who helped initially move Burton’s poem into movie-form.
Since the script was finished after the songs, the animators initially worked on the musical numbers, starting with the first song, “This Is Halloween.” Selick has stated that they really didn’t know what they were doing initially, and that sequences that they animated earlier look cruder than ones they did at the end of production. This is definitely true of the “This Is Halloween” sequence, which is visually stunning but also a little rough around the edges.
Interestingly, ahead of the film’s release, Elfman cited that “Nightmare Before Christmas” was “the greatest collaboration I’d ever been involved with,” even though disagreements on the film led to a very public falling out with Burton. Elfman, who provides Jack with his singing voice, had also laid down vocal tracks for his speaking role, too. Selick and Burton found his dialogue delivery unsatisfactory and replaced him with “Fright Night” actor Chris Sarandon. (Elfman also does the speaking voice for Barrel, one of Oogie Boogie’s henchmen.)
But Elfman, who had grown quite attached to Jack, felt slighted, which led to him parting ways with Burton. “Ed Wood,” released by Disney the following year, would be the first Burton movie to not be scored by Elfman. They wouldn’t work together again until 1996.
Touchstone
5. At One Point, There Was More to Oogie Boogie
One of the movie’s best, grossest gags is the reveal of Oogie Boogie’s true self — a mass of wiggling worms.
This was one of the most difficult sequences in the entire film, consisting of four incredibly detailed shots that each took a full month to create and animate (see #3). But there was even more to this sequence originally. Early storyboards revealed “a surprisingly different storyline that ultimately wasn’t pursued” (according to Selick on the Blu-ray special features), one in which, when Oogie Boogie is split open, Dr. Finklestein is revealed inside. “Yes, Jack Skellington, it’s me!” Finklestein crows. “Me! The man who created Sally from bits of flesh and scraps of cloth! As Oogie Boogie, I wanted to teach her a lesson she’d never forget!” (Yeah, this doesn’t make a lot of sense.)
There was one additional surprise as a trap door on Boogie’s roulette table opens up to reveal the doctor’s hunch-backed assistant Igor. Even in rough form, it’s clear that the sequence didn’t really work and was wisely cut. Bye bye, Boogie.
6. Pixar Helped Out
If you have watched the credits for “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as much as I have, you’ll notice that a small team from Pixar is given a credit. It’s still, all these years later, unclear as to what exactly Pixar contributed to the film. (Selick and Pixar godhead John Lasseter went to Cal Arts together and Lasseter worked alongside Burton at Disney Animation.)
Most likely, it had to do with some post-production coloring, as Pixar had recently developed and introduced the CAPS system to Walt Disney Feature Animation, which replaced the traditional ink-and-paint model (a staple since Walt’s time) with a new digital coloring system. There were other minor CGI fixes/augmentation that the studio could have provided, since at the time they were a similar independent animation outfit located in the greater San Francisco area. Pixar and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” would continue to be connected for years to come (see #8).
7. It’s Technically Not a Disney Movie
During the lead-up to “The Nightmare Before Christmas’” release, then-head of Disney Michael Eisner got a look at early footage from the film and deemed it too dark and scary. (He also requested a moment when Tim Burton’s severed head is being passed around like a hockey puck be deleted from the movie; it was replaced by a Jack-o-lantern in the final film.) He would still allow for the “What’s This?” sequence to be included in Disney animated home videos from around that time (it was the full sequence, uninterrupted) but he also wanted some distance placed between the Disney brand and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
So, as it was, the Disney name was removed from the film and it was replaced with a card for the Touchstone Pictures shingle that would note that the film was slightly more adult and sophisticated. In an interview with IGN in 2006, Selick said that the company worried that it would “too dark and scary for kids.” He continued: “Their biggest fear, and why it was kind of a stepchild project, was they were afraid of their core audience hating the movie and not coming.”
And, to be honest, there was some merit to this apprehension. The film wasn’t a breakaway box office success, instead growing in stature over the years, to the point that it is now a yearly seasonal overlay to the Haunted Mansion and countless pieces of merchandise are sold each and every year. When the film was released, though, all of the toys (housed in nifty, coffin-shaped boxes) sat unsold at Disney Stores around the country.
Interestingly, if you watch the film today, either on Blu-ray or digitally, the iconic Disney castle greets you when the movie begins. It is no longer a stowed-away Touchstone Picture; it’s now, firmly, a Disney classic.
8. Without It, There Would Be No ‘Toy Story’
It’s hard to explain how, exactly, “Nightmare Before Christmas” paved the way for Pixar’s “Toy Story,” a film that would end up revolutionizing the entire film industry and serving as the bedrock for another Disney animation renaissance. But maybe John Lasseter can explain.
In a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said: “Disney kept trying to hire me back after each of the short films I had made. I kept saying, ‘Let me make a film for you up here [at Pixar].” They always said, ‘No, a Disney animated film will always be made at Disney.’ They had no interest in doing an outside project.” Lasseter continued: “What changed their mind was Tim Burton. Tim and I went to college together, and he had developed a feature idea called ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas.’ He went on to become a successful live-action director and was trying to buy ‘Nightmare’ back from Disney. And they said, ‘Why don’t you just make it for us?’ That opened the door for Disney to think of these niche animated films that could be done. They said, ‘Okay, we’re willing to talk with you. We’ve got puppet animation going [with Tim Burton] and now we’ll be willing to develop the computer animation.’ They said to come back when we had an idea. So we started thinking…”
And, of course, their thinking led to “Toy Story,” another project that started as a holiday special before morphing into a bona fide feature film.
To make an interesting history even more interesting was the announcement in 2010 that Selick would set up a brand new stop-motion studio at Pixar. The new outfit, called Cinderbiter Productions, was already hard at work on a feature called “ShadeMaker” and, according to the press release, would serve as “a new stop motion company whose mandate is to make great, scary films for young ‘uns with a small, tight-knit crew who watch each other’s backs.”
Unfortunately, in 2012 the studio was shut down after Disney and Pixar management found the development of the current film to be unsatisfactory. After spending more than $50 million on the film itself, the company announced a write-down north of $100 million, given the amount of employees and real estate the new shingle occupied. Gone was Selick’s relationship with Lasseter, along with a potentially lucrative deal with Disney (after completing work on “ShadeMaker,” he was set to direct a live action/animated adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s deeply brilliant “The Graveyard Book”). Sigh.
Touchstone
9. Jack Had Cameos in Selick’s Subsequent Films
This is more of the Easter Egg-y variety, but Jack Skellington would appear in two of Selick’s other films.
In 1996, he would reteam with Disney and Burton for the considerably drabber “James and the Giant Peach” adaptation. While a largely joyless affair (those live action sequences are terrible), there is a bright spot when Jack and his insect pals visit a sunken pirate ship manned by a pirate-y Jack Skellington. (Richard Dreyfuss’ Mr. Centipede even refers to the character, in his broken New Yawk accent, as “Skellington.”)
Additionally, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance by the Pumpkin King in Selick’s animated feature for Laika, “Coraline.” There’s a moment when Coraline is in the kitchen and the Other Mother is making her food; the Other Mother cracks open an egg and, in the yolk, is the face of Jack. It’s very subtle and tiny and hard to spot, most likely because they were navigating some very choppy legal waters with the insertion, but he’s still there, epitomizing the Halloween spirit in a very literal Easter egg.
It seems like this time of year everyone is watching a Tim Burton animated film. Whether it’s “The Corpse Bride,” “Frankenweenie,” or “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (which takes over the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland each yet and remains a merchandising juggernaut), his forays into animation are perfect for family-friendly frights. In fact, animation is such a key part of Burton’s larger filmography, whether it’s the stop-motion-animated snakes from “Beetlejuice” or the wholly imagined CGI worlds of “Alice in Wonderland,” that it’s not hard to imagine that when Burton began his filmmaking career, he was animating cutesy animals for Disney. Because that’s exactly how he began his filmmaking career, morosely scribbling in the background of features like “The Fox and the Hound” (made in the post-Walt, pre-Eisner doldrums).
In fact, his history with Walt Disney Animation Studios is long and fascinating — and a relationship that continues to this day.
1. His Art Rarely Made it Into the Final Films
When Disney Animation hired Burton in the early 1980’s, it was in the role of an apprentice. He would do odd artistic jobs, before working on films such as the aforementioned “The Fox and the Hound,” the disastrous (but more thematically in-sync) “The Black Cauldron,” and “TRON” (with Walt Disney Animation assisting with the complex visual effects). The only problem was that most of his pre-production artwork (storyboards, concepts and character designs) never made it into the final films. They were too idiosyncratic and expressive in weird and different ways than the studio was comfortable with — especially at that incredibly conservative time. After directing several shorter projects, including a bizarre, Japanese-inspired “Hansel and Gretel” adaptation that aired on the Disney Channel once, on Halloween Night, Burton was quietly fired.
2. He Worked Alongside Some of the Greats…
While he worked at Disney Animation, he was alongside many of his classmates at CalArts. These artists would go on to shape modern animation in profound and impactful ways, folks like Ron Clements and John Musker (directors of “The Little Mermaid” and “Moana”), Don Bluth (who would go on to create “An American Tale”), Brad Bird (director of “The Incredibles”) and John Lasseter (a founding member of Pixar and head of the creative side of Disney). Clearly this was a very talented bunch.
3. …Including His Longtime Collaborator Rick Heinrichs
Also at Walt Disney Animation at the time was Rick Heinrichs. Heinrichs helped on projects like 1980’s “Watcher in the Woods,” and would produce many of Burton’s early efforts. He would go on to work on nearly all of Burton’s films in some capacity, from doing visual effects on his episode of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” to working as a production designer on “Sleepy Hollow.” For “Nightmare Before Christmas,” he was credited as a visual consultant although his work began long before the film was actually produced.
4. ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Was Written During His Time at Disney
And speaking of “Nightmare Before Christmas,” while the finished movie seems fully formed and birthed from Burton’s imagination, it actually took a long time to make it to the big screen and actually began during his time at Disney Animation. That’s when Burton wrote a poem and, later, a treatment for the project, which he hoped would be narrated by his friend and mentor Vincent Price. Even Heinrichs created models for characters and helped with storyboards. Eventually the project stalled, Burton left the company, and it seemed like all was lost. Until, years later, Burton realized that Disney still owned the rights. They were emboldened by both the success of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” which had involved an outside animation studio, and the progress they were making with Pixar and Burton’s old classmate and colleague John Lasseter on what would become “Toy Story,” and so started developing the project, in earnest, once again. Pixar ultimately provide computer effects for the project, which is a bonus fact! They returned to Henry Selick, a Disney animator at the time Burton conceived the idea, to helm the project.
5. When He Finally Wanted to Make It, He Envisioned ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ as a Holiday Special
When the project was revived, Burton held on to the idea that it would be a half-hour television special like the Christmas specials that had inspired him initially. But Disney thought bigger — this was going to be a feature. One of the ways the filmmakers expanded the story was by making it a really-for-real musical featuring original songs by close Burton confederate Danny Elfman. The music became one of the key aspects of the film and one of its most beloved components.
6. A ‘Nightmare’ Sequel Was Proposed
While not initially seen as a success, the cache of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” steadily rose over the years, with merchandising being made (and selling out), the overlay of Haunted Mansion becoming a yearly sensation, and appropriations of Jack and Oogie Boogie into other sectors of the company (videogames, etc.) In 2008 Selick admitted that Disney had approached Burton about making a sequel, although instead of utilizing the painstaking artform of stop-motion, they’d want to make it using computer animation. Burton said no. Years later Selick would set up a stop motion division of Pixar, only to see it crash and burn before the first feature was produced, leading to an $80 million write-down for the company and bad blood between the filmmaker and studio.
7. ‘Frankenweenie’ is Based on a Short he Made at Disney
Another more recent animated feature, “Frankenweenie,” was based off of something Burton had made back when he was at Disney (around the same time he came up with the “Nightmare Before Christmas” idea). Back then it was a live action short about a young boy who brings his beloved pet dog back from the dead. Its macabre sense of humor and darkly-tinged visuals were part of what got him fired from the studio. But after the success of “Alice in Wonderland” (in part based off of a Walt Disney Animation Studios film), Disney made a new deal with Burton and part of that deal was an animated remake of “Frankenweenie,” produced in black-and-white and using the same stop-motion techniques as “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
8. His Next Feature is a Remake of a Walt Disney Animation Studios Classic
And Burton’s relationship with Disney Animation continues! Burton’s next feature, due out in 2019, is a remake of “Dumbo,” the animated classic. It will continue in the footsteps of his previous work, by taking a whimsical, somewhat malevolent approach to the material. We cannot wait!
%Slideshow-342747%Christmas decorations are already up in stores and holiday songs are on the radio, but if you just can’t get enough Christmas cheer, you need only turn to Netflix.
Favorites like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Love Actually” are streaming now, as well as Billy Bob Thornton as the baddest Santa Claus ever. Also, there are movies galore about people and mean old misers (and animals) learning the true meaning of Christmas. And on December 4, you can start celebrating “A Very Murray Christmas” in the all-star Bill Murray Netflix special.
(Act now! Limited time offer! Shipping and handling not necessary! Streaming speeds may vary! No Hanukkah movies currently available!)
It’s a debate that’s raged ever since the flick’s debut in 1993: Is “The Nightmare Before Christmas” a Halloween movie, or a Christmas movie? Fans have their own reasoning for picking a particular side, but now, the film’s director, Henry Selick, has weighed in with the definitive answer.
In an Q&A session following a “Nightmare” screening at the Telluride Horror Show last weekend, Selick was asked directly by a little girl in the crowd, “Is this a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?” After a pause, the director revealed that he came down decidedly on Team Halloween.
After the question was asked Selick looked a little surprised, and he said, “Oh boy,” likely knowing that whatever answer he gave would be controversial.
“It’s a Halloween movie,” he said, definitively. He acknowledged that a lot of people liked the Christmas Town stuff waaaaay better than the Halloween Town (“They love Santa and say he’s all-powerful,” he said), but he had to tell the truth: this is a movie about Halloween, and the people of Halloween, and how they react to something like Christmas.
Some fans will argue that the flick’s focus the December holiday puts it more in the Christmas camp, but the Tim Burton-produced film doesn’t exactly put us in the holiday mood — it’s creepy as hell, and that, if anything, should sway viewers into agreeing with Selick.
Regardless of where you fall in the divide, though, feel free to fire up your DVD — or Netflix — of the film at whatever time of year you feel is appropriate. We won’t tell.
It’s a debate that’s raged ever since the flick’s debut in 1993: Is “