Tim Burton Says He's Not 'Interested' in aNightmare Before ChristmasSequel: 'I Don't Want That'

Mar. 15, 2025

Tim Burton and ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ character Jack Skellington.Photo:Julien Hekimian/Getty Images; Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

Julien Hekimian/Getty Images; Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

Tim Burtonwants to leaveThe Nightmare Before Christmasalone.

In a recent interview withEmpiremagazine, Burton, 65, emphasized that he has no interest in a sequel, reboot or other film connected to the 1993 stop-motion animated film that he created and produced.

“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 s—, 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,” he added, comparing himself to a man “who owns a little piece of property and won’t sell to the big power-plant that wants to take my land.”

“Get off of my land!” Burton joked. “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?”

Tim Burton posing with characters from 1993’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’.Elizabeth Aninas/Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

Elizabeth Aninas/Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

The film follows Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon, with the singing voice ofDanny Elfman), the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who grows obsessed with Christmas Town and recreating it in his home world. With help from ragdoll Sally (Catherine O’Hara), he learns the real meaning of Christmas spirit.

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‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’.Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

While speaking withEmpire, Burton said the Jack Skellington character “was a very personal character” for him at that point in his career.

“Those are the kinds of things that I love, whether it’s [Edward] Scissorhands or Batman, characters that have that,” he said. “It represented all those feelings that I had. I was perceived as this dark character, when I didn’t feel that way.”

When PEOPLE caught up withNightmare Before Christmasdirector Selick, 70, and the film’s star Sarandon, 81, tocelebrate the 30th anniversaryin October, Selick said it is “a perfect movie [that] came out of the perfect time, only to grow into something far bigger over the years.”

“I think Tim in particular feels like, why mess with that?” he added of a potential sequel. “He certainly doesn’t need to make more money from a sequel. He has had so many other successes, and so far nobody’s come up with agreat idea for a sequel. And I still think that Tim gets to decide. I don’t think there’s any idea that would convince him.”

Selick said that in his view “it might be more interesting to do a prequel.” “There might be a more interesting story there about how Jack became the King of Halloweentown,” he said at the time.

The Nightmare Before Christmasis currently streaming on Disney+.

source: people.com