‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Director Won’t Be Back for a Sequel, Has Moved On

Henry Selick, the director of the beloved dark family holiday film The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), is working on a new project, and it is sure to delight fans of unnerving fantasy fans.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is often associated with Tim Burton, in large part because the film was originally marketed as “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Burton did indeed write the poem that inspired the film and worked on developing it into a fuller story, but Caroline Thompson wrote the actual script, and Henry Selick directed the film in his feature-length debut.

The Nightmare Before Christmas follows Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon and composer Danny Elfman), the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, an otherworldly dimension devoted to the spookiest of holidays. Through a combination of ennui, confusion, and interdimensional travel, Jack attempts to hijack Christmas and provide the whole world with his vision of yuletide joy, which doesn’t really work out.

Related: ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Director Reveals Prequel Plans

At the time, Tim Burton was one of the hottest directors in Hollywood, coming off the back-to-back successes of Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Batman Returns (1992). It made sense for Disney (the parent company of production company Touchstone Pictures) to label it as a Burton project, but ultimately, the film belongs to Henry Selick in a truer sense.

The Nightmare Before Christmas was a solid box office hit but quickly became a cultural sensation, selling a thousand Jack Skellington t-shirts in malls, multiple games, follow-up books, and assorted merchandise. Henry Selick has expressed some interest in directing a sequel, but reportedly, Tim Burton has put a definitive end to any chance of that happening.

Last year, Selick told People that he thinks that “Tim in particular feels like, why mess with that? He certainly doesn’t need to make more money from a sequel. He has had so many other successes, and so far nobody’s come up with a great idea for a sequel. And I still think that Tim gets to decide. I don’t think there’s any idea that would convince him.”

Related: Tim Burton Makes Comeback, Has “Had Enough” With Studios Like Disney

Instead, Henry Selick has other plans. According to Variety, the acclaimed director is developing a stop-motion animation adaptation of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a 2013 dark fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman.

It seems that Selick already has a 35-page treatment and concept art for the adaptation, calling it “almost a sequel” to his critically beloved 2009 film Coraline, not coincidentally also adapted from work by Gaiman. Reportedly, discussions are happening with ShadowMachine and Laika.

Selick says The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a parallel to and reversal of Coraline. “Instead of a child going to this other world with a monstrous mother, it’s a monstrous mother who comes into our world to wreak havoc on a kid’s life.”

Sounds like a fun time for the whole family!

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