Tim Burton Ready To Defend The Nightmare Before Christmas Against Sequel With Shotgun

Summary

• The Nightmare Before Christmas turned 30 this fall.
• The musical's creator, Tim Burton, reiterated what he's been saying for years while speaking with Empire.
• The filmmaker explained that he is adamant about not giving the film a sequel of any kind because the project has always been very personal to him.

The season has come to take your favorite holiday movies off the shelf, dust them off, and get into the festive spirit.

Probably the most popular movie to revisit this year is The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is because Tim Burton's iconic stop-motion animated musical turned 30 back in October. And that, of course, is the best excuse to rewatch it for the nth time. Probably twice.

If, as you dive into the story of the Pumpkin King who once dreamt of being Santa Claus, you find yourself wondering what Halloween Town would look like today... well, we'll never know.

Tim Burton is adamant about no sequel

In the current era of reboots, remakes, and revivals, it is natural to expect any more or less popular movie or show to become a franchise and have its universe expanded by new projects.

But The Nightmare Before Christmas is destined to remain a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. In spite of the film's cult following, the creator continues to insist on not letting any studio capitalize on it. In a recent interview with Empire, the filmmaker reiterated what he's been saying for years.

'To me the movie is very important,' Burton said. 'I've done sequels, I've done other things, I've done reboots, I've done all that shit, right? I don't want that to happen to this. It's nice that people are maybe interested [in another one], but I'm not.'

The creator explained his protectiveness of the film by the fact that it was very personal to him at the time of its creation and still is today.

'[Jack Skellington is a] character that's perceived as dark, but is really light,' Burton said. 'It represented all those feelings that I had. I was perceived as this dark character, when I didn't feel that way. So it was a very personal character.'

The filmmaker has a colorful metaphor to explain his stance

Given that Burton owns part of the character rights to the film, his agreement to make a sequel is crucial. And let's face it, we'd only go to the movies if the original creator was at the helm of a new project.

And in case the big bosses at Disney still try to approach him, Burton has a hilarious response ready.

'I feel like that old guy who owns a little piece of property and won't sell to the big power-plant that wants to take my land,' he said, adding in a grumpy, barking voice: 'Get off of my land! You pesky little… You ain't getting this property! I don't care what you want to build on it. You come on my property… Where's my shotgun?'

Well, that sounds about right. And we can't help but sympathize with the small property owner.

Source: Empire.