Tim Burton’s holiday movie The Nightmare Before Christmas is returning to theaters to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The creepy part-Halloween-part-Christmas film first hit the Silver Screen in limited release on Friday, October 13, 1993. It then made its full debut on Friday, October 30—keeping with its spooky theme—and became an instant cult classic. So Burton decided it was owed proper recognition for its milestone birthday. For a limited time, the movie will play at select Regal, AMC, and Cinemark theaters around the country.
The news made waves today when it started circulating on social media. Fans celebrated the announcement and noted that they’ll be making a special trip to watch the story. DiscussingFilm was one of the outlets that announced the news on X.
‘THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS’ returns to theaters this weekend for the film’s 30th anniversary,” it wrote alongside several screenshots of the uniquely Burton animation.
“Wow 30 years this movie is a classic my kids are 9 and 10 and live this movie,” one person commented.
“We’ll be seated in the theater,” wrote another excited fan.
Within an hour, the post had already earned over 1.5K likes.
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Began as a Poem
The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the story of Jack Skellington —a.k.a. the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town. Jack grows bored of his ghoulish surroundings and starts wandering outside the city, looking for an adventure. He stumbles into Christmas Town, a land of lights and magic. Jack decides to introduce his friends to the Christmas spirit. But the plan doesn’t work out quite as well as he imagined.
Interestingly, the script began as a poem that Burton wrote in 1982. At the time, he was not yet a legendary director. Instead, he was working as a Disney animator. According to CBR, Burton asked Disney to turn the poem into a children’s TV special, but the studio turned him down. The execs believed it was too scary for kids.
Tim Burton went on to create a name for himself, and his twisted tales, such as Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns, were highly successful. So, in the early ’90s, he asked Disney producers to rethink their decision. That time, they said “yes.” The movie earned an Oscar nod in 1994. So, we’d say they made the right decision.
Click here to find tickets for A Nightmare Before Christmas near you.
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