Rumours about a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas have swirled for years, no great surprise considering the fact this 1993 classic remains beloved (the franchise is also a top merchandise seller for Disney and its characters continue to play a large role in the company's theme parks, particularly around Halloween).
Directed by Henry Selick but very much inspired by Tim Burton's twisted imagination, the stop-motion movie tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of "Halloween Town," who stumbles upon "Christmas Town" and schemes to take over the holiday.
Jack Skellington voice actor Chris Sarandon was recently on The Art of Kindness with Robert Peterpaul podcast (via Toonado.com) and the subject of a sequel quickly came up. Sarandon, however, was quick to dismiss any knowledge of a follow-up being in the works.
"Essentially I have nothing to do with it," he said. "I can’t pick up the phone and call Tim Burton and say, 'OK let’s go! Let’s do Nightmare Before Christmas 2!' I’m the hired gun in this equation. And whether it would be me in a sequel or not...I don’t know."
"At the same time, I respect Tim’s thoughts. I mean this happened with The Princess Bride where there was a great demand for a sequel. I don’t know how Tim feels. I’ve heard various things, but they could be true or not."
The last time we heard any remotely believable claims about sequel plans was back in 2019. However, there was some confusion surrounding whether that project would be a true stop-motion sequel or a live-action retelling of the original story.
Last year, Disney released a novel sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas titled Long Live the Pumpkin Queen. Taking place from Sally's perspective, it takes place 50 weeks after the movie and picks up with her and Jack after their honeymoon. However, she ends up trapped in Dream Town and chaos ensues.
That could be the basis for another movie, though something tells us Disney would be more inclined to set the action around another holiday.
The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Burton in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Productions. After years of attempting to make a movie a reality, production started in July 1991 and the movie was released through Touchstone Pictures due to the studio's belief the film would be "too dark and scary for kids."
A critical success, it was only a modest box office success. As noted, it's now a beloved classic so we'd bet on a sequel eventually taking shape at Disney.