We Need More Crossover Holiday Movies Like The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Note: Today’s issue includes a few spoilers for The Nightmare Before Christmas. Sometimes I forget to warn y’all, but this time I did not. But you’ve probably already seen this film. Carry on.

Reader, when do “the holidays” start in your mind? This is something I think about, because my brain is weird.

No matter what you celebrate or believe, December is obviously “the holidays.” And I think it would make sense to include the last week or two of November as well. Beyond that, though? Everyone’s gonna tell you something different. If you have ever visited HomeGoods, you would assume the holiday season begins in September.

This question has been rattling around in my head lately because I just rewatched The Nightmare Before Christmas, a delightful stop-motion animated musical that, perhaps more than any other film of its kind, is about holidays as temporal constructs in general more so than a particular holiday. To that point, you could argue that this film is a Halloween movie because most of the characters are creepy creatures and it is largely set in a place called Halloween Town. You could also argue that it’s a Christmas movie on the strength of its themes and, well, the title.*

Me? Well, I was built different, so I watched it on the first day of November. It seems like the most appropriate time for a film about a Spooky Guy trying to find his purpose after Halloween ends.**

If you’re unfamiliar with the plot specifics, Jack Skellington, our undead protagonist and “king of the pumpkin patch,” takes a grief stroll at the conclusion of his seasonal duties and finds himself in a circle of trees that contain portals to other holiday dimensions.*** There’s a pumpkin, a Christmas tree, a turkey, a heart, a shamrock, an Easter egg, and some sort of star-spangled design that could be New Year’s Eve or Independence Day.

Now, this raises all kinds of questions that shouldn’t be raised when dealing with the logic of a children’s film. In particular, how did Jack simply stumble upon this gateway of other holiday lands when his home is seemingly behind one of the portal doors? But the bigger extra-textual question is: How has there never been a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas that explores these other holiday zones?

Listen, I know it’s counterproductive to wish for more IP cash-ins with the film industry in such a creative dry spell and seemingly no end in sight. But if we’re going to get a deluge of remakes and spinoffs and legacyquels, we might as well get some interesting ones, right? And now that director Henry Selick is making films again, I’m gonna need him to cut a deal with Disney or something.**** (One for them, one for you, Henry. This is the way.)

Let’s assume that the fireworks door is for the 4th of July. The natural linear progression would be Valentine’s Day. What if Jack’s romantic interest, an animated rag doll and toxicologist named Sally, has a mishap in the lab and creates a potion that causes her to lose all her emotions? (A “no-emotion potion,” we could call it.) The only way for Jack to win her love back would be to visit Love Town and kidnap Cupid himself!*****

And what if they go the spinoff route, leaving Jack and Santa behind altogether and exploring new holidays apart from these two? We already get a scene with the Easter Bunny in this film; what if things are amiss in Shamrock Town and the mischievous Leprechaun King goes to war with the Bunny King before learning that treats are better than tricks? (Dang, I’m back on Halloween. Next idea.)

But perhaps the film I’d most want to see would tap further into the holiday deconstruction that we see in this film; and within the same general season too. Because there’s a very obvious oversight that happens in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack skips Thanksgiving! (Just like the employees of HomeGoods.) This concept is a bit more nebulous in my mind, but I’m willing to bet that the Turkey King of Thanksgiving Town is very sad that Halloween and Christmas get all the attention, and I bet Jack Skellington and his friend Santa Claus (and maybe even some other holiday critters!) would be willing to lift his spirits. I mean, we don’t have that many Thanksgiving films, right?

So there you go. Three free ideas for a sequel spinoff thing set in the world of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Somebody get me Bob Chapek’s phone number.

*The Alabama Theatre is screening this film on December 15, so we know where they stand at least.

**My nieces watched Coco for Día de los Muertos this week because they have good taste.

***The political hierarchy of Halloween Town is unclear. If Jack is the Pumpkin King, why does this town have a mayor? Do Jack and the Mayor share the same jurisdiction? Does this mean Santa Claus is the Christmas Tree King? Someone has to ask the hard questions here.

****I have not seen Wendell & Wild yet, but I can’t believe it took him 13 years to make another film after Coraline. What a picture.

*****If this holiday dimension is indeed called Love Town, think of the marketing sponsorships they could do with Love’s, my favorite truck stop. (Other than Buc-ee’s, of course.)

The Nightmare Before Christmas is now streaming on Disney+, and it is available to rent elsewhere.