The Nightmare Before Christmas
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Henry Selick
Screenplay by	Caroline Thompson
Adaptation by	Michael McDowell
Based on	The Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton
Produced by	Denise Di Novi Tim Burton
Starring	Danny Elfman Chris Sarandon Catherine O'Hara William Hickey Glenn Shadix Paul Reubens Ken Page Ed Ivory
Cinematography	Pete Kozachik
Edited by	Stan Webb
Music by	Danny Elfman
Production companies	Touchstone Pictures[a] Skellington Productions[2]
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures Distribution[2]
Release dates	October 9, 1993 (1993-10-09) (New York Film Festival) October 29, 1993 (1993-10-29) (United States)
Running time	76 minutes[3]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$18 million[4]
Box office	$108.5 million[5]

The Nightmare Before Christmas (also known as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) is a 1993 American stop motion gothic fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his feature directorial debut, and produced and based on a story and characters conceived by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of Halloween Town, who stumbles upon Christmas Town and schemes to take over the holiday. Danny Elfman wrote the songs and score and provided the singing voice of Jack. The principal voice cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Ken Page, Paul Reubens, Glenn Shadix and Ed Ivory.

The Nightmare Before Christmas originated from a poem written by Burton in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Productions. With the critical success of Vincent that same year, Burton began to consider developing the film as either a short film or a half-hour television special, to no avail. Over the years, Burton's thoughts regularly returned to the project, and, in 1990, he made a development deal with Walt Disney Studios. Production started in July 1991; Disney initially released the film through the Touchstone Pictures label because the studio believed the film's gothic tone would be "too dark and scary for kids".

The Nightmare Before Christmas premiered at the New York Film Festival on October 9, 1993, and was given a limited release on October 13, before its wide theatrical release on October 29. The film was met with commercial and critical success upon release, earning praise for its animation, particularly the innovation of stop-motion as an art form, as well as its characters, songs, and score. While initially a modest box-office hit, it has since garnered a large cult following and is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time.^[6][7][8] It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated film; but it lost to Jurassic Park. Thirteen years after its initial release, the film was reissued by Walt Disney Pictures and was re-released annually in Disney Digital 3-D from 2006 until 2010.

In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."^[9]

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