Synopsis

Jack Skellington is the highly celebrated Pumpkin King of Halloweentown. It seems he is everyones favourite citizen. To one young lass he is much, much more. Sally, the stitched-together creation of evil Dr Finkelstein is secretly in love with him but each time an opportunity arises where she might get closer to Jack and reveal her deep feelings for him, Dr Finkelstein gets in the way. Jack up until now has always been a happy soul. But this Halloween something has changed. He's suddenly become a little disenchanted. It's the same routine yearafter year after year. Then something strange happens. Jack accidently finds himself in another world. A world where there is snow, snowmen, lights, stocking and Santa Clause. Back home Jack decides it is time he was King Of Christmas. He enlists three mischievous trick or treaters Lock, Shock, and Barrel, to help him kidnap Santa Claus. Oh Jack, what have you done. This isn't what Christmas is all about. There's only one Santa Claus, and it ain't Jack. As he finds out!

What The Critics Say

"Thirteen years after its debut, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas has gone 3D, which makes a good thing even better. The film not only stands up, it stands out thanks to its digital 3D effect transformation, which makes the pumpkins swirl overhead and gives a closer look at the texture of the remarkable puppets." Nancy Churnin DALLAS MORNING NEWS "Concise, elegant, a tad scary, this is a treat for Halloween." David Elliott SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUTE "It's not a horror movie; it's too tame for stalk-and-slash aficionados. And it's not a kiddie movie either - its characters include a fellow with an ax in his head and a perpetually rotting goblin that make it unsuitable for the youngest kids. But older children, teenagers and adults who enjoy the offbeat won't want to miss this entertaining holiday goody." Linda Cook QUAD CITY TIMES "Although this is often mistaken for being directed by Tim Burton, his unique and creative imagination is clearly the film's fuel, followed ,of course, by the impressive claymation." Greg Muskewitz eFILMCRITIC.COM "Still as fresh as the day it was released in 1993 and now in dazzling 3D, Tim Burton's stop-motion animated Nightmare Before Christmas is a compelling feast of twisted characters and imagery. Danny Elfman's songs and the distinctly Burton-esque characters make this a visual and musical treat for the whole family. The 3D effects are seamlessly integrated, offering a brand new magical experience for all." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"The Nightmare Before Christmas is a visual splendor. Done on the cheap, this could have been a gimmicky, unsatisfying experience, but, as the result of considerable time and effort, it is an unqualified success. All of the figures move smoothly and naturally, and the attention to detail is exquisite. We are given a group of cleverly-fashioned characters that look like refugees from Edward Gorey's sketchbook. The Nightmare Before Christmas has something to offer just about everyone. In short, The Nightmare Before Christmas does what it intends to: entertain." James Berardinelli REELVIEWS "This brilliant combination of stop-motion animation, three-dimensional sets and superbly imaginative graphics, brings animation to new peaks. Burton, whose inventive, delightfully haunted mind put so much zest into "Pee-wee's Big Adventure", "Beetlejuice", "Batman" and "Edward Scissorhands", has done it again." Desson Howe WASHINGTON POST "The Nightmare Before Christmas is perhaps the first movie that is delightfully horrible, gruesomely sweet and wholesome." MaryAnn Johanson FLICK FILOSOPHER "Re-imagining "The Nightmare Before Christmas" as a three dimensional film has taken Henry Selick's modern masterwork and turned it into a timeless classic." Edward Havens FILMJERK.COM "If you're a fan of this movie, then you MUST see it in 3D. It is ten times better, from both an artistic/aesthetic point of view, and a technical one. My hope is that this will come out as a special DVD, with a pair of glasses, so that we can all enjoy it at home. It would be a great addition to the DVD collection. This is halloween, this is halloween, halloween, halloween...." THEATRE AUSTRALIA NATIONAL

The Amazing Tim Burton Tim Burton conceived and produced the original "The Nightmare Before Christmas", bringing his trademark mix of the moving and the macabre to create an enduring holiday classic. Burton most recently directed the critically acclaimed hit fantasy-adventure "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", starring Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore, and produced and co-directed the animated love story "Corpse Bride" to further praise from critics around the world. His previous film was "Big Fish", a heartwarming tale of a fabled relationship between a father and his son, hailed as Burton’s most personal and emotional tale to date. Burton also directed the box-office hit "Planet of the Apes", a new version of the 1968 classic, starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan and Kris Kristofferson. All of Burton’s films are well-known for the highly imaginative and detailed world he creates to surround and inform the story. They include "Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure", "Beetlejuice", "Batman", "Edward Scissorhands", "Batman Returns", "Ed Wood", "Mars Attacks!" and "Sleepy Hollow". Burton began drawing at an early age, attended California Institute of the Arts on a Disney fellowship and, soon after, joined the studio as an animator. He made his directing debut with the animated short "Vincent", narrated by Vincent Price. The film was a critical success and an award-winner on the festival circuit. In 1985, Burton’s first feature film, "Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure", was a box-office hit, and the director was praised for his original vision. "Beetlejuice" (l988), a supernatural comedy starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder, was another critical and financial success. In 1989, Burton directed the blockbuster "Batman", starring Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton and Kim Basinger. Following the triumph of "Batman", the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) awarded Burton the Director of the Year Award. The film also won an Academy Award ® for Best Art Direction. "Edward Scissorhands", starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder and Dianne Wiest, was another Burton hit and it too was acclaimed for its original vision and poignant fairy-tale sensibility. In 1992, Burton once again explored the dark underworld of Gotham City in "Batman Returns",which featured Michelle Pfeiffer as the formidable Catwoman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin. It was the highest grossing film of the year. In 1994, Burton produced and directed "Ed Wood", starring Johnny Depp in the title role. The film garnered Academy Awards® for Best Supporting Actor (Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi) and Best Special Effects Makeup. In 1995 it was the blockbuster "“Batman Forever". In 1996 it was "James and the Giant Peach". Burton then produced and directed "Mars Attacks!", a sci-fi comedy, starring an elite array of 20 leading players, including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito and Annette Bening. In 1999, Burton directed "Sleepy Hollow" which was inspired and starred Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson and Michael Gambon. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards ®, including Best Costume Design and Best Cinematography and won the Oscar ® for Best Art Direction. Honors from BAFTA included Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. Burton also authored and illustrated a children’s book for "The Nightmare Before Christmas", released in conjunction with the 1993 film. His next book of drawings and rhyming verse, "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories", was praised by the New York Times for "conveying the pain of an adolescent outsider". The Inside Story Those who took the opportunity to see the recent "Chicken Little" in 3D will agree there was a wonderful new depth added to the feel of the movie. Gone were those cloured lenses of olden days, to be replaced by what could easily be mistaken for as regular 'sunnies'. "Chicken Little" debuted the newly created Disney Digital 3D™ and after seeing the standard version on the screen, I can personally vouch that Disney Digital 3D™ certainly added a terrific 'wow' factor to this cinemagoers viewing experience. The remaking of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" represents another giant 'filmmaking' step for mankind. Why? Because this is the first time a previously analog 2D film has been turned into a wholly digital 3D film. "This was a very special project for us, lending exciting new life to a film and characters that continue to be a tremendous success," says Don Hahn, the Oscar®-nominated producer of "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and "Lion King" (1994). "Audiences have long associated 3D with a story that is fun, scary or both, and with this film, they get it all. You feel like you’re right there in that amazing world with the puppets, not merely watching the story go by on the screen. When the snow falls, it’s falling right on you. When a character jumps out, he jumps over the head of the person in front of you. It literally brings an extra dimension to what has become a modern holiday classic." But before the project could get off the ground Disney asked executives asked their partners in Digital 3D at Industrial Light & Magic to do a test run—digitizing a brief snippet of the film to see if the idea would sink or soar. The snippet was then screened for Tim Burton. His reaction to the new Disney Digital 3D™ format? "What’s amazing is that because of the 3D process, audiences will really get to see the texture of the puppets," Burton says. "When we were making the movie, we got to feel in our hearts like our characters were real. When you see it in 3D; it just takes it that much further. Everything comes to life, and you can literally see in through the eye sockets of Jack Skellington." The films original director Henry Selick wasn't so sure admitting he was, well, a little spooked and quite skeptical. "I honestly wasn’t too excited about the idea at first because, as amazing as modern technology is, I was concerned that it wouldn’t look good, that it would be a kind of Frankenstein’s monster," Selick comments. "I was afraid it would come off looking like a bunch of cut-outs and disconnected layers." His reaction was like Burtons. Selick says that "as they began to show me more footage, my jaw started to drop. I was astonished by what they were achieving. They were being incredibly respectful of the original material, and it wasn’t gimmicky at all. Even though the technology is incredibly advanced, they were managing to really keep intact the handmade quality of the film. It actually took me back to how exciting it was when we were first making the film years ago and all these characters started to come to life." 3D effect isn't a new phenomenon, in fact it has been around since the 1920's in Hollywood. It really took off in the 1950's when films such as "The House of Wax", "Bwana Devil" and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" were released in stereoscopic vision. It was for some, an eyestraining experience, never the less many cinemagoers loved the effect. Now, in the brave new world of the 21st century, 3D has finally come of age. A new generation of digital tools has revolutionized 3D viewing, creating a more seamless illusion for the audience and it's called Disney Digital 3D™. Prior to "The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D", audiences flocked to see the 3D version of "Chicken Little" and "Monster House", both of which were created as original productions. "The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D" would require taking a flat 2D film to a new dimension. So how does 3D effect work? In theory, all 3D films work by projecting a double image, one for the right eye and another for the left, which creates the rich sensation of real-life depth. Traditionally, this was achieved by using two projectors. Disney Digital 3D™ however, takes it to another level by using just one projector, which rapidly shifts between images for the left eye and the right eye at one hundred and fourty four times per second. So fast that the brain is not even aware of it. Using polarized light the images are crisper and clearer than any 3D process in history. For the 2D flat version of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" the journey to Disney Digital 3D™ started with every frame being lovingly digitized. This vast undertaking fell to Industrial Light & Magic, under the supervision of ILM’s executive in charge of production, Colum Slevin who explained, "Everyone at ILM is a big fan of this movie. We were already in love with the project before we began. It’s such a cool film and everybody kept saying, 'It’s perfect for 3D!' It’s so beautifully composed, the sets are gorgeous and there’s this quirky forced-perspective thing going on that already has a kind of 3D feel about it. In fact, once we began rendering the characters in 3D, they looked so fantastic, we felt it was just destined to be viewed this way." Starting with a crew of 20 and eventually ramping up to 80, it took 19 very intense weeks of work for ILM to complete the transformation. Next came thestop motion work. "With stop-motion, you have to pose every single frame and every single frame is incredibly deliberate. So when you try to track and follow a character that’s been stop-motion animated, and you’re trying to replicate that in CG, you have to redo all that labor all over again from scratch, because there’s just no automatic way to do it," says Slevin. "So there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears that went into replicating the performances authentically so the stereo would pick up faithfully in the right eye when we reprojected the original performances." But what about the left eye? Here's the spooky bit readers. Your left eye will be watching the original version of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". As for the soundtrack, well it's a beauty. "When we heard about the new Digital 3D release, we saw a rare opportunity to bring this great music to a new generation of fans," Robert Marick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Walt Disney Records said. "We immediately approached Danny Elfman’s management team (Richard Kraft and Laura Engel) and, at first, we really didn’t know what he would say. A lot of artists might have said no to taking a new look at their own classic work, but we knew that Danny was a risk taker, and we were thrilled when he agreed that it would be exciting to commission covers from some of today’s most popular and interesting artists." The two disc set features the original songs on one disc and the new version on another. Artists performing new versions include: Grammy®-winning singer/songwriter Fiona Apple ('Sally's Song'), Marilyn Manson ('This Is Halloween'), indie rock band Panic! At The Disco ('This Is Halloween'), and Fall Out Boy ('What’s This'). The Verdict "It's a wonderful experience that everyone will enjoy. I remember the huge leap 3D took a few years ago when IMAX produced a number of excellent films in the format, but Disney Digital 3D™ is something extra special. The characters are crisp, the backgrounds are superb and the amount of work that must have gone into taking Burton's flat 2D production into this incredible new format is mind bogling. "The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D" is a love story with a difference. Filled with joyous songs it will prove no doubt, to be a very entertaining outing for those who see it. Watch out for the ankle biters though. Kids under five might just find this a little too real and, pretty frightening in parts. Highly recommended viewing, and please remember, put those special 3D glasses away in a safe place because you'll be able to use them when the next Disney Digital 3D™ film hits the big screen. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D" stars .......
Chris Sarandon ["Dog Day Afternoon", "Fright Night", "Child's Play" and "Let the Devil Wear Black"] as Jack Skellington; Catherine O'Hara ["Best In Show", "A Mighty Wind", "Chicken Little", "Over The Hedge" and "Monster House"] as Sally; William Hickey ["Prizzi's Honor", "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", "Twisted" and "Mousehunt"] as Dr Finkelstein; Ken Page ["Torch Song Trilogy", "All Dogs Go To Heaven" and "I'll Do Anything"] as Oogie Boogie; Glenn Shadix ["Planet Of The Apes", "Shut Yer Dirty Little Mouth" and "Big Hopes, Little Lies"] as the Mayor; and Danny Elfman ["I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", "Forbidden Zone", "Back to School" and "The Gift"] as the singing voice of Jack Skellington.
"THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 3D" was .......
directed by A.S.I.F.A. Hollywood Annie Award winner Henry Selick ["Seepage", "James and the Giant Peach", "Monkeybone" and "Moongirl"]; screenplay by Caroline Thompson ["Edward Scissorhands", "The Addams Family", "The Secret Garden" and "Corpse Bride"]; adapted by Michael McDowell ["Beetle Juice", "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" and "Thinner"]; director of photography Pete Kozachik ["James and the Giant Peach" and "Corpse Bride"]; original music by Danny Elfman ["Spider-Man 1 & 2", "Big Fish", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride"] originally produced by Tim Burton ["Stalk Of The celery Monster", "Luau", "Cabin Boy" and "The World of Stainboy"]; 3D produced by Don Hahn ["Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "The Haunted Mansion"]; edited by Stan Webb ["James and the Giant Peach" and "Antz"]. Run Time 83 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Buena Vista Pictures - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved