# The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 stop-motion holiday musical directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton that grew a massive online fandom. The film became a yearly October-through-December fixture across YouTube, DeviantArt and Tumblr, spawning thousands of fan works and a long-running tradition of song parodies based on its soundtrack.
## Origin
Tim Burton first wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas as a short poem in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Disney, pitched internally as a possible short or TV special[2]. Burton closed a deal with Disney in 1990, production started in San Francisco in 1991 under director Henry Selick, and the finished feature shipped in 1993[2].
Disney considered the tone too dark for the main brand, so the film was released through its Touchstone Pictures label instead[2]. Reviews were strong on arrival, with Rotten Tomatoes later logging a 96% critics score for the picture[1].
- **Platform:** Theatrical film (origin) / YouTube and Tumblr (fandom spread)
- **Creator:** Tim Burton (poem/story); Henry Selick (director)
- **Date:** 1993
## Overview
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often credited as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a stop-motion musical about Halloween Town's Jack Skellington stumbling into Christmas Town and trying to run the holiday himself[1]. The 1993 film pulled a 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it the kind of long tail that keeps it in rotation every Halloween and Christmas[1].
Online the title works less like a single meme and more like a dense fandom cluster. Fans post character edits, Jack-and-Sally cosplay, and remixes of Danny Elfman's score, and the soundtrack track "What's This?" is still the most-parodied song from the movie[2]. Urban Dictionary entries from the 10th-anniversary DVD era already treated the film as a cult favorite rather than a normal kids' movie[3].
## How to Use
The dominant fan format is a song parody set to the film's soundtrack, typically rewriting "What's This?" or "This Is Halloween" with new lyrics about a show, game or holiday the creator is a fan of[4]. Other common conventions include Jack Skellington reaction edits, Halloween-to-Christmas transition videos, and crossover art that places Jack and Sally into other franchises.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is The Nightmare Before Christmas?
It is a 1993 stop-motion musical directed by Henry Selick and produced and co-written by Tim Burton about Jack Skellington's attempt to hijack Christmas, which later anchored a huge online fandom[2].
### Where did The Nightmare Before Christmas come from?
Burton wrote it as a poem in 1982 while at Disney, then produced it as a feature starting in 1991 for a 1993 theatrical release through Touchstone Pictures[2].
### What does The Nightmare Before Christmas mean?
Online the title doubles as shorthand for the Halloween-into-Christmas crossover mood and for a wider cult fandom of fan art, cosplay and song parodies around Jack and Sally[2][3].
### How do you use The Nightmare Before Christmas?
The most common fan format is a song parody that rewrites tracks from the Danny Elfman soundtrack, with "What's This?" the usual target[2][4].
### Is The Nightmare Before Christmas still popular?
Yes, it is still treated as a classic: it holds a 96% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and keeps a long tail of fan work on YouTube, DeviantArt and Tumblr[1][2].
## References
1. [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightmare_before_christmas/]()
2. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-nightmare-before-christmas]()
3. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20Nightmare%20Before%20Christmas]()
4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZIVmKOdrBk]()
5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvFQH3E_gEg]()
6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImDJVe0-WyQ]()
7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuWD-mSUtrU]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/the-nightmare-before-christmas
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