History Trivia / TheNightmareBeforeChristmas

* CreatorsPest: Writer Caroline Thompson [[https://www.insider.com/the-nightmare-before-christmas-behind-the-scenes-screenwriter-caroline-thompson-2020-12 greatly disliked Oogie Boogie]], feeling that his name, design and penchant for gambling tapped into [[UnfortunateImplications stereotypes of African Americans]] (not helped by Oogie being voiced by African-American Ken Page). Thompson petitioned Burton and Selick to have Oogie overhauled, but was overruled.

* CashCowFranchise: Oh yes! Ironically, Creator/TimBurton has attempted to prevent this to an extent, by refusing to do sequels and ruin the integrity of the movie for fans.

** [[https://people.com/nightmare-before-christmas-30th-anniversary-henry-selick-chris-sarandon-exclusive-8357661 Per Henry Selick]], Disney's reasoning for adding Tim Burton's name to the title was to prevent parents from thinking the movie was a family-unfriendly pure horror movie (Disney was particularly concerned the movie would be mistaken for an entry in the ''Franchise/NightmareOnElmStreet'' series).

* CreatorsPest: Writer Caroline Thompson [[https://www.insider.com/the-nightmare-before-christmas-behind-the-scenes-screenwriter-caroline-thompson-2020-12 greatly disliked Oogie Boogie]], feeling that his name, design and penchant for gambling tapped into [[UnfortunateImplications racist stereotypes of African Americans]] (not helped by Oogie being voiced by African-American Ken Page). Thompson petitioned Burton and Selick to have Oogie overhauled, but was overruled.

* CreatorsPest: Writer Caroline Thompson [[https://www.insider.com/the-nightmare-before-christmas-behind-the-scenes-screenwriter-caroline-thompson-2020-12 greatly disliked Oogie Boogie]], feeling that his name, design and penchant for gambling tapped into [[UnfortunateImplications racist stereotypes of African Americans]] (not helped by Oogie being voiced by African-American Ken Page). Thompson petitioned Burton and Selick to have Oogie overhauled, but was overruled.

** [[https://people.com/nightmare-before-christmas-30th-anniversary-henry-selick-chris-sarandon-exclusive-8357661 Per Henry Selick]], Disney's reasoning for adding Tim Burton's name to the title was to prevent parents from thinking the movie was family-unfriendly (Disney was particularly concerned the movie would be mistaken for an entry in the ''Franchise/NightmareOnElmStreet'' series).

** [[https://people.com/nightmare-before-christmas-30th-anniversary-henry-selick-chris-sarandon-exclusive-8357661 Per Henry Selick]], Disney's reasoning for adding Tim Burton's name to the title was to avoid parents from thinking the movie was family-unfriendly (Disney was particularly concerned the movie would be mistaken for an entry in the ''Franchise/NightmareOnElmStreet'' series).

** [[https://people.com/nightmare-before-christmas-30th-anniversary-henry-selick-chris-sarandon-exclusive-8357661 Per Henry Selick]], Disney's reasoning for adding Tim Burton's name to the title was to avoid parents from thinking the movie was too family-unfriendly (Disney was particularly concerned the movie would be mistaken for an entry in the ''Franchise/NightmareOnElmStreet'' series).

* ExecutiveMeddling: Technically, this is why the film exists at all. All of Burton's concept art was drawn at the Disney studio and on company time, using their art supplies, during his down time on ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound''. As a result, Disney claimed it as their intellectual property and relegated it to their archives when Burton left in 1983, bringing them up once he made a name for himself with ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}''. Disney also moved the film under the [[Creator/TouchstonePictures Touchstone label]] at the last minute when they worried about releasing a "scary" movie under "Walt Disney Pictures". Future re-releases, both home and theatrical, would bring it back under the Disney name, after the Disney brand began to expand their demographic starting with the PG-13 ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series.

** Burton regulars Creator/{{Catherine O'Hara}}, Creator/GlennShadix and even Elfman have voice roles.

* CreatorBacklash: Though he is proud of the finished film, Creator/HenrySelick has [[https://www.avclub.com/henry-selick-nightmare-christmas-wendell-wild-burton-1849712802 admitted]] that he doesn't like how many people often overlook his involvement in the film and give Burton all the credit, considering Burton was away in Los Angeles working on ''Film/BatmanReturns'' and ''Film/EdWood'' during most of the film's production while Selick and his team were making the movie in San Francisco.
* CreatorBreakdown: Music/DannyElfman, who was still the frontman of Music/OingoBoingo at the time, suffered a nervous breakdown at the end of the film's production. Unlike most films he scores, which only require him to work for three weeks, he was on this project for two years, and eventually cracked under the pressure of being a full-time film composer and the front man for a rock band. He and Tim Burton had a brief falling out and he was forced to break up his band in order to focus full-time on movies. Burton was even nice enough to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never to speak of the ordeal again]] when all was said and done.
* DescendedCreator: Danny Elfman not only wrote the music and lyrics to the film, but he was the voice for Barrel and the Clown (as well as the singing voice for Jack).

* ExecutiveMeddling: Technically, this is why the film exists at all. All of Tim Burton's concept art was drawn at the Disney studio and on company time, using their art supplies, during his down time on ''WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound''. As a result, Disney claimed it as their intellectual property and relegated it to their archives when Burton left in 1983, bringing them up once he made a name for himself with ''Film/Batman1989''. Disney also moved the film under the [[Creator/TouchstonePictures Touchstone label]] at the last minute when they worried about releasing a "scary" movie under "Walt Disney Pictures." Future re-releases, both home and theatrical, would bring it back under the Disney name, after the Disney brand began to expand their demographic starting with the PG-13 ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series.

** Tim Burton regulars like Catherine O'Hara, Glenn Shadix and even Danny Elfman have voice roles.
** Henry Selick's own circle of collaborators, who'd worked with him on MTV station [=IDs=] and Pillsbury Doughboy commercials, followed him onto this project.

** Jack Skellington is the king of his own empire but desperate to move on to something new and exciting. His songs are written and performed by Music/DannyElfman, who was the leader of [[Music/OingoBoingo an acclaimed rock band]] at the time, but was desperate to move permanently into his new and exciting career as a film composer.
** Jack discovers a world known for being lighthearted and wholesome, and tries to bring his own dark and spooky twist into it, which backfires, before he and Christmas end up finding common ground together. Replace "Jack" with Tim Burton and "Christmas" with Disney, and you have the story of how Tim Burton was forced to leave Disney only to have Disney distribute his first animated feature.
* RecursiveAdaptation: The film was based on an illustrated poem by Tim Burton. An anniversary edition of the poem added some more Burton illustrations closer to the film.

* UncreditedRole: According to Danny Elfman, some of Tim Burton's dummy lyrics wound up in the final versions of the songs, but he refused to take credit for them.

** This film was originally planned to be released under the Walt Disney Pictures label, but was released under Creator/TouchstonePictures instead because its content was considered too dark for Disney standards, with memories of the backlash Creator/WarnerBros received for marketing Burton's ''Film/BatmanReturns'' to children likely fresh in their minds. It ended up being reissued under the Disney name anyway once their demographic expanded.
** Originally, [[spoiler: Oogie Boogie was supposed to be Dr. Finklestein in disguise, motivated by jealousy over Sally choosing Jack over him and wanting to teach her a lesson.]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEOZbihCyoE See here]].
** Another idea was to have the bugs exit Oogie Boogie's body and attack Jack. The storyboards for this can be viewed [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160216002055/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz-X3gVpm3g here.]]

** Originally, horror novelist Creator/MichaelMcDowell (who cowrote the screenplay for Film/{{Beetlejuice}}) was enlisted to write the script for this film. Unfortunately, [[ItsSnowingCocaine [=McDowell=] was on a lot of drugs at the time]], and his treatment was considered both terrible and unfilmable.
** Before Music/DannyElfman, Music/GiorgioMoroder was offered to score the project, but he turned it down.
** Weirdest of all, the movie almost ''didn't'' get the Spiral Hill which codified GothSpirals! On the DVD commentary, Henry Selick indicated that Tim was unsure about the hill because of his mandate that "magic does not exist in Halloween Town." (Specifically, the unwinding part seemed like magic.) Selick only changed his mind by saying, "[[SureLetsGoWithThat All right, then, it's a mechanical hill]]."

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The film received several different titles in translation. In Polish, it's called ''Halloween Town'', while it's known as ''Jack's Strange World'' in Latin American Spanish and Portuguese, and ''Mr. Jack's Strange Christmas'' in French.

* DoingItForTheArt: After the film became a heavily-merchandised CultClassic, Tim Burton has fought Disney tooth and claw to prevent a sequel from being made so as to preserve the film's integrity.

* NonSingingVoice: Music/DannyElfman does the singing voice of Jack, while Creator/ChrisSarandon does the speaking voice.[[note]]Unlike many examples of this where the singing voice actor had to match the speaking voice, the songs for this film were actually recorded first, so Sarandon had alter his voice to match Elfman's.

** This film was originally planned to be released as part of the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, but was released under the Creator/TouchstonePictures instead because its content was considered too dark for Disney standards, with memories of the backlash Creator/WarnerBros received for marketing Burton's ''Film/BatmanReturns'' to children likely fresh in their minds. It ended up being reissued under the Disney name anyway once their demographic expanded.

* NonSingingVoice:
** Music/DannyElfman does the singing voice of Jack, while Creator/ChrisSarandon does the speaking voice.[[note]]Unlike many examples of this where the singing voice actor had to match the speaking voice, the songs for this film were actually recorded first, so Sarandon had alter his voice to match Elfman's.[[/note]] In "Oogie's Revenge", the trope is {{averted}}, with Sarandon singing the songs.
** The Italian dub [[AvertedTrope averts]] this with Jack, having him dubbed by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renato_Zero Renato Zero]], a famous singer; as well as the German dub, with Music/NinaHagen as Sally.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Disney choosing to distance themselves from the film at the last minute by moving it to Creator/TouchstonePictures label (see WhatCouldHaveBeen) did it no favors on its initial release, where it made $50 million (not a bomb, but disappointing). Ironically, Disney had previously screwed fellow Halloween feature ''Film/HocusPocus'' (by dumping it in July) to help ensure success for ''Nightmare''.

* TalkingToHimself: {{Averted}}. Elfman does the voice of Jack Skellington and Barrel (and the Clown), but since he's only the ''singing'' voice of Jack, he never runs into this trope. Likewise averted by Sally and Shock, who are both voiced by Catherine O'Hara but never share a scene with each other. Played somewhat straight during the Town Meeting, when the Devil and Harlequin Demon discuss what could be in the present, as both were voiced by Creator/GregProops.

* CreatorBacklash: Though he is proud of the finished film, Creator/HenrySelick has [[https://www.avclub.com/henry-selick-nightmare-christmas-wendell-wild-burton-1849712802 admitted]] that he doesn't like how many people often overlook his involvement in the film and give Burton all the credit, considering Burton was away in Los Angeles working on ''Film/BatmanReturns'' and ''Film/EdWood'' during most of the film's production while Selick and his team were making the movie.

* CreatorBacklash: Though he is proud of the finished film, Creator/HenrySelick [[https://www.avclub.com/henry-selick-nightmare-christmas-wendell-wild-burton-1849712802 has admitted]] that he doesn't like how many people often overlook his involvement in the film and give Burton all the credit, considering Burton was away in Los Angeles working on ''Film/BatmanReturns'' and ''Film/EdWood'' during most of the film's production while Selick and his team were making the movie.

* CashCowFranchise: Oh yes! Ironically, Tim Burton has attempted to prevent this to an extent, by refusing to do sequels and ruin the integrity of the movie for fans.

** Creator/HenrySelick's own circle of collaborators, who'd worked with him on MTV station [=IDs=] and Pillsbury Doughboy commercials, followed him onto this project.

** Creator/VincentPrice was offered the role of Sandy Claws, but was in too poor health to give a good performance.

* ReferencedBy: The Music/Blink182 song "I Miss You" has a couple lines about living "like Jack and Sally" and having "Halloween on Christmas." Mark Hoppus wrote the song for his then-fiance (now ex-wife), both of whom were huge fans of the film and eventually had a ''Nightmare''-themed wedding.

* ImageSource:
** TheAntiGrinch
** ChristmasTown
** DirectorDisplacement (poster)
** FormulaForTheUnformulable
** GhostlyAnimals
** GiftTropes
** GothSpirals
** HalloweenTropes
** {{Halloweentown}}
** PullingThemselvesTogether
** UsurpingSanta