Tim Burton Gets Collector's Edition

By: Dorothy Emry

Monday August 25, 2008

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Collector's Edition DVD and Never-Before Seen Images
n 1993 when Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas hit the big screen and Jack Skellington sang, “What's this? What's this?” for the first time, it would have been hard to predict whether the film would be pigeonholed a cult classic or join the ranks of other beloved holiday treats. After fifteen years, there's no longer any doubt.

There's already been one DVD collector's edition, but the continuing popularity of the film proves there's room for more. On August 26th, a new digitally restored version of Tim Burton's classic, stop motion animated film will be released on DVD and Blu-ray™ and in a gift boxed Ultimate Collector's Edition set.

Those who aren't familiar with the story of the Pumpkin King's misguided attempts to take over Christmas and composer/lyricist Danny Elfman's infectious score are surely those who don't celebrate Halloween at all. As an annual decorating frenzy, Halloween has become a holiday to rival Christmas and Burton's film is as much a viewing tradition for All Hollow's Eve as “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is for the Yuletide.

By the time The Nightmare Before Christmas came out, the film's fantasy world already had a familiar feel for audiences of his previous work. Burton, who established his bend toward gothic themes in BeetleJuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990), had the bare bones of the Halloween tale rattling in his had years before the original film was made by Walt Disney Studios. Hints of Halloween Town's surreal landscape pop up in his earlier movies: the snake delivered as one of Santa-Jack's presents looks quite bit like the sand worm in BeetleJuice and in Batman Returns (1992), the Penguin rides a duck on wheels that's a larger, less carnivorous version of the chomping toy fowl that is likewise delivered as a Christmas gift. 

Elfman once said, “The attempt here was to do something that felt a little timeless....” He referred then to the musical style of the Nightmare score, but his words can easily apply to his collaborations with Burton. He has scored many of Burton's films including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse Bride. Long before composing film scores, Elfman made a name for himself as a song writer and singer for Oingo Boingo, a group whose hits include “Weird Science” and “Deadman's Party.”  For The Nightmare Before Christmas, he not only wrote the music and lyrics, but also did Jack Skellington's singing voice.



When it was first released, Elfman and Burton's gifts for conjuring macabre delights had already been established. No doubt fans knew what to expect from Nightmare however the Walt Disney Company, then still protective of its reputation for kid-friendly fare, became uncomfortable that the film might be “too dark for kids.” It was originally released under their alternate label, Touchstone Pictures. Film critics did caution that very young children might find it a bit too frightening, but the reviews were positive. In October 2006, the film was re-released in 3-D under the Walt Disney Pictures banner--only fitting considering Burton's first job was as an animator for Disney.

Nightmare was the first movie ever to be fully animated using the stop-motion technique and the quality of animation is surely one reason for the film's continuing popularity. By 1993, stop motion animation had come a long way since German animator, Oskar Fischinger's work and Willis O'Brien's sequences in the classic Hollywood films The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933).  The painstaking labor of producing such films is documented in the special features of both the old and new Collector's Editions DVDs for Nightmare. When the original 2-D version of the film was digitized and made into a 3-D theatrical release, stop motion took another giant leap forward. The 3-D version marked the film's thirteenth birthday; 2008 will be the third year the seasonal favorite is shown in theaters.

In a review from Oct. 22, 1993, film critic Roger Ebert said, “First, go for the story. Then go back just to look in the corners of the screen, and appreciate the little visual surprises and inspirations that are tucked into every nook and cranny.” Fans of Nightmare who have soaked up the special features from the first Collector's Edition will find even more reasons to purchase the new August 26th Collector's Edition DVD, the Blu-ray™ version or, for those who can afford it, the Ultimate Collector's Edition.


DVD BONUS FEATURES:
* The Making of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Go behind the scenes of the very first full-length stop motion animated movie with the filmmakers.

* The Worlds of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - Witness the creation of the film's richly imagined dreamscapes, including Halloween Town, Christmas Town and the Real World.

* Deleted Scenes

* Storyboard to Film Comparison

* Original Theatrical Trailers and Posters

* PLUS Tim Burton's Complete Short Film Vincent


PLUS NEW TO THIS EDITION:
* Tim Burton's Original poem narrated by Christopher Lee - Tim Burton's poem that inspired the creation of the movie comes to creepy life as performed by legendary actor Christopher Lee.

* Film Commentary - commentary by producer and writer Tim Burton, director Henry Selick and composer Danny Elfman.

* Introduction To Frankenweenie! - A new un-cut version and introduction by Tim Burton.

* What's This? Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour - Viewers choose the way they want to tour Disneyland's Holiday Haunted Mansion. “On Track” explores a tricked-out version of the Haunted Mansion, while “Off Track” reveals what went into creating all the creepy fun.


EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY BONUS FEATURE:
* A Special Blu-ray Only Introduction by Tim Burton


LIMITED RELEASE ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION DVD SET FEATURE:
* an individually numbered, hand-painted bust of Jack Skellington, a removable “Sandy Claws” hat and beard, a sound chip that plays memorable lines from the film and a letter of authenticity.