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It's that time of year again! You know, the one where we all debate whether or not something is a Christmas movie, like "Die Hard" or "Gremlins." The big one, and the one that I must insist belongs to two holidays — Halloween and Christmas — is 1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I don't see why it can't be both. That said, there are certain parts of the film that seem to fall firmly into one category. That includes when Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon and Danny Elfman) appears as the Pumpkin King at the beginning of the film and during the song "This Is Halloween."
Jack is cool no matter what outfit he's in, but there is something so delightfully and creepily sinister about him when he's in that guise (since I mostly want to hug him for the rest of the...
It's that time of year again! You know, the one where we all debate whether or not something is a Christmas movie, like "Die Hard" or "Gremlins." The big one, and the one that I must insist belongs to two holidays — Halloween and Christmas — is 1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I don't see why it can't be both. That said, there are certain parts of the film that seem to fall firmly into one category. That includes when Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon and Danny Elfman) appears as the Pumpkin King at the beginning of the film and during the song "This Is Halloween."
Jack is cool no matter what outfit he's in, but there is something so delightfully and creepily sinister about him when he's in that guise (since I mostly want to hug him for the rest of the...
- 11/27/2023
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
Tim Burton loves to make things spooky and morbid, but his favorite holiday might well be Christmas. Look at how many of his films take place during the Yuletide season: "Batman Returns," "Edward Scissorhands," etc. He also conceived of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," which is all about Halloween Town's top ghoul, Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), getting Christmas fever. While Burton handed off directing duties of the stop-motion picture to Henry Selick, it's easy to see his fingerprints and why he would empathize with Jack.
David A. Bossert's "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Visual Companion" was released this year for the film's 30th anniversary. The book features interviews with the film's crew, from Selick to Art Director Kelly Asbury, where they describe forming the film's distinct visual style — since there were multiple holiday-themed dimensions, they couldn't stick to just one aesthetic.
For Halloween Town, though, they took after Burton's...
David A. Bossert's "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas Visual Companion" was released this year for the film's 30th anniversary. The book features interviews with the film's crew, from Selick to Art Director Kelly Asbury, where they describe forming the film's distinct visual style — since there were multiple holiday-themed dimensions, they couldn't stick to just one aesthetic.
For Halloween Town, though, they took after Burton's...
- 11/27/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
In a Halloween world where every person is a monster, a vampire, a skeleton, a werewolf, a demon, or a creature that hides under the stairs, who could possibly be a villain? In Henry Selick's 1993 stop-motion animated fantasy "The Nightmare Before Christmas," Jack Skellington is the community's most famous local hero, but he is not a killer. Indeed, Jack seems to be good-hearted (if he had a heart) and secretly longs for romance. The local mad scientist Dr. Finkelstein (William Hickey) can resurrect dead skeletons, but he doesn't want to take lives. Even the two-faced Mayor (Glenn Shadix) is more ineffectual than evil.
The only monster in Halloween Town that truly longs for violence and aches to kill people with his own hands is Oogie Boogie, a.k.a. the Boogeyman (Ken Page). As imagined by the film's designer, Tim Burton, Oogie Boogie is a large, empty-eyed burlap sack full of bugs and snakes.
The only monster in Halloween Town that truly longs for violence and aches to kill people with his own hands is Oogie Boogie, a.k.a. the Boogeyman (Ken Page). As imagined by the film's designer, Tim Burton, Oogie Boogie is a large, empty-eyed burlap sack full of bugs and snakes.
- 11/26/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
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Whether you think "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie, it's a joy. The story of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, is regular holiday viewing for fans, including myself, and the stop-motion animation is incredible. It gives it a creepier quality than regular animation would have. The lighting on the deep wells of Jack's eyes or the way it looks like you could actually wear the fancy dead rat hat yourself just makes you shudder in the best way. Look, I'm not saying this is a scary movie. It's just adorably disturbing as well as wildly entertaining.
Producer Tim Burton, who came up with the idea for "The Nightmare Before Christmas," almost had one of those adorably disturbing (and pretty gruesome) moments in the film as a cameo, though Selick didn't keep it in,...
Whether you think "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie, it's a joy. The story of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, is regular holiday viewing for fans, including myself, and the stop-motion animation is incredible. It gives it a creepier quality than regular animation would have. The lighting on the deep wells of Jack's eyes or the way it looks like you could actually wear the fancy dead rat hat yourself just makes you shudder in the best way. Look, I'm not saying this is a scary movie. It's just adorably disturbing as well as wildly entertaining.
Producer Tim Burton, who came up with the idea for "The Nightmare Before Christmas," almost had one of those adorably disturbing (and pretty gruesome) moments in the film as a cameo, though Selick didn't keep it in,...
- 11/12/2023
- by Jenna Busch
- Slash Film
When Henry Selick's animated fantasy "The Nightmare Before Christmas" was first released in October of 1993, it wasn't an overwhelming hit. Made for a budget of $20 million, the film only opened to about $191,000 in its first weekend. It would eventually crawl its way to a respectable but not mind-blowing $50 million overall. Disney, the film's distributor, clearly had little faith in the project and released it under its Touchstone label, feeling it was too weird for little kids. Only a small segment of passionate teenage Tim Burton fans latched onto it (Burton designed the film and wrote the poem on which the script is based), and it was the weirdos and Goths who bought it on VHS and committed the film to memory. For a few brief, sweet years, "Nightmare" was little more than a legitimate cult phenomenon.
Something happened by the late 1990s, however, as Disney slowly discovered that marketing...
Something happened by the late 1990s, however, as Disney slowly discovered that marketing...
- 11/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
I saw the latest version of The Lion King recently with my family. It was fine. The kids liked it for the most part. But I pretty much felt like if you had seen the first version, you really didn’t need to see this one. It was a pretty exact remake, and though it was beautiful, it didn’t make me laugh or feel much of the emotion that the animated version did.
So it is interesting to know that Huffington Post reached out to the original animators, and it’s kind of a mixed bag as far as their response. Of the 13 original animators that worked on the film, seven declined to comment, three said they didn’t see the new movie and didn’t plan to, and three said they wouldn’t mind answering a few questions.
One person who wouldn’t name themselves said, “I will...
So it is interesting to know that Huffington Post reached out to the original animators, and it’s kind of a mixed bag as far as their response. Of the 13 original animators that worked on the film, seven declined to comment, three said they didn’t see the new movie and didn’t plan to, and three said they wouldn’t mind answering a few questions.
One person who wouldn’t name themselves said, “I will...
- 8/2/2019
- by Jessica Fisher
- GeekTyrant
Disney’s remake of The Lion King is a massive hit with audiences. It’s grossed over $1.04 billion worldwide since opening and boasts a glowing A CinemaScore rating. But animators behind the 1995 original are divided over the film.
According to a new story from HuffPost, some of the makers of the 1995 original movie aren’t thrilled about director Jon Favreau’s CGI approach, while others have no problem with it. The outlet reached out to 13 animators who worked on the film and six responded to them.
“I will only get myself in trouble if I comment on the ‘other’ version,...
According to a new story from HuffPost, some of the makers of the 1995 original movie aren’t thrilled about director Jon Favreau’s CGI approach, while others have no problem with it. The outlet reached out to 13 animators who worked on the film and six responded to them.
“I will only get myself in trouble if I comment on the ‘other’ version,...
- 8/1/2019
- by Ale Russian
- PEOPLE.com
Just a heads up -- in case you can't get to Walt Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim, CA from August 14-16 -- heaps of new Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel and Disney movie intel will be coming out of the event, so put yourself on standby for cool previews.
Disney just shared a press release with the 2015 schedule. You'll see it's noted that "a bevy of special guests will be on hand to offer a look at an unparalleled slate that includes Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Jungle Book, Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, Star Wars: The Force Awakens-and much, much more." Also, "Filmmakers will unveil never-before-seen footage from Pixar's upcoming The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory and Disney Animation's Zootopia and Moana." So if those movies, and all Disney/Pixar projects, are of interest to you, just know some good teases should be coming out of this.
Here's the...
Disney just shared a press release with the 2015 schedule. You'll see it's noted that "a bevy of special guests will be on hand to offer a look at an unparalleled slate that includes Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Jungle Book, Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, Star Wars: The Force Awakens-and much, much more." Also, "Filmmakers will unveil never-before-seen footage from Pixar's upcoming The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory and Disney Animation's Zootopia and Moana." So if those movies, and all Disney/Pixar projects, are of interest to you, just know some good teases should be coming out of this.
Here's the...
- 7/22/2015
- by Gina Carbone
- Moviefone
Marketplace pitch and competition winners also announced; 2016 dates set.
Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look Of Silence has won the Audience Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 5-10).
The documentary, in which a survivor of the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of his brothers, is the follow-up to Oppenheimer’s The Act Of Killing.
Matt Houghton’s Dear Araucaria won the Audience Award for best short while Disney Animated, co-directed by Dave Bossert and Theodore Gray, won best interactive.
Sheffield Doc/Fest, which held its main awards on its closing night last week, has set the dates for its 2016 edition as June 10-15.
This year’s edition saw international delegate numbers rise to more than 3,400, from 3,263 in 2014, according to the festival.
Public numbers were on track to beat last year’s record of 26,700, bolstered by an increase of almost 50% of the festival’s Doc/Lovers wristband, which gave people access to all the films...
Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look Of Silence has won the Audience Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 5-10).
The documentary, in which a survivor of the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of his brothers, is the follow-up to Oppenheimer’s The Act Of Killing.
Matt Houghton’s Dear Araucaria won the Audience Award for best short while Disney Animated, co-directed by Dave Bossert and Theodore Gray, won best interactive.
Sheffield Doc/Fest, which held its main awards on its closing night last week, has set the dates for its 2016 edition as June 10-15.
This year’s edition saw international delegate numbers rise to more than 3,400, from 3,263 in 2014, according to the festival.
Public numbers were on track to beat last year’s record of 26,700, bolstered by an increase of almost 50% of the festival’s Doc/Lovers wristband, which gave people access to all the films...
- 6/16/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Comic-Con has released the full schedule of all the events that will take place over the course of its four days, which you can see for yourself here. For your convention convenience, we’ve collected all of best movie-related panels, programs, Q&As, screenings, and dog-and-pony shows below, including ones involving anticipated upcoming releases like Ender's Game, Divergent, Gravity, and The World’s End. Check them out and mark your calendars. San Diego Comic-Con runs July 17-21. For the full list of TV highlights, check out our list on Inside TV.
Thursday, July 18
Thurs., 10:30am-11:30am, Room 6A,...
Thursday, July 18
Thurs., 10:30am-11:30am, Room 6A,...
- 7/7/2013
- by Keith Staskiewicz
- EW - Inside Movies
Friday’s Comic-Con schedule has landed! And it’s totally packed with action, from Simon Pegg’s latest The World’s End panel to a special Veronica Mars presentation.
In case you missed it, click here to see Thursday’s schedule and below you’ll see Friday’s TV and movie highlights. For more info and the complete schedule head over to the official Comic-Con site.
10:00am-11:00am, Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Cartoon Network: Regular Show: Care to join the not so regular cast and crew for an eventful hour of over the top regular?...
In case you missed it, click here to see Thursday’s schedule and below you’ll see Friday’s TV and movie highlights. For more info and the complete schedule head over to the official Comic-Con site.
10:00am-11:00am, Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront, Cartoon Network: Regular Show: Care to join the not so regular cast and crew for an eventful hour of over the top regular?...
- 7/5/2013
- by Sandra Gonzalez
- EW.com - PopWatch
Walt Disney Animation Studios (Wdas) debuted a newly restored digital print of the once-thought-lost 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit animated short .Hungry Hobos. at the Telluride Film Festival on September 2, according to Dave Bossert, producer/creative director and head of special projects for Wdas. The film, which was found in a private film vault in England in 2011, was acquired by Disney that same year and has undergone extensive digital restoration. .Hungry Hobos. will debut in Telluride, Colorado as part of a special animation shorts program presented by leading film historian and restoration expert Serge Bromberg. Also on the program (.Serge Bromberg.s Retour De Flamme.) was a sneak peek at Disney.s newest animated short .Paperman,. which premiered at this year.s Annecy International Animated Film Festival, generating excitement in the industry for its innovative hybrid use of computer animation and hand-drawn techniques.
.Hungry Hobos. was overseen by Walt Disney in...
.Hungry Hobos. was overseen by Walt Disney in...
- 9/5/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
When the blockbuster hit "The Lion King" premiered 18 years ago, it was the highest-grossing hand-drawn film in history -- and found a whole new generation of fans when it was released in 3D late last year.
Now, thanks to the innovators at Walt Disney Animation and Disney Publishing, children will be able to experience it with a new iOS app called "The Lion King: Timon's Tale."
ExtraTV.com's Kit Bowen recently had the great...
Now, thanks to the innovators at Walt Disney Animation and Disney Publishing, children will be able to experience it with a new iOS app called "The Lion King: Timon's Tale."
ExtraTV.com's Kit Bowen recently had the great...
- 2/27/2012
- Extra
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
The union of showbiz superpower Disney and Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki would seem a case of strange bedfellows.
The Walt Disney Co., the mass producer of children's entertainment. Miyazaki, the painstaking auteur behind "Princess Mononoke". Disney, the house of happy endings and familiar themes. Miyazaki, the creator of films that range from the fantastic to seriously weird.
Miyazaki, the animator who winces whenever he's called the "Walt Disney of Japan".
But the trans-Pacific alliance, ongoing since 1998, seems to be paying off.
In March, Miyazaki's dark jewel "Spirited Away" captured the Academy Award for animated feature, in one of the Oscars' best-received surprises.
The film's U.S. release got off to a shaky start last fall, with animation boosters grumbling that it was offered on no more than 700 screens. But with the Oscar win, Disney suddenly was able to justify a wider release. "Spirited Away"'s grosses have doubled in the past month, to a respectable $10 million.
Now Miyazaki seems poised to find his largest U.S. audience with Buena Vista's DVD release of "Spirited Away" and two of his earlier, more accessible children's films.
"Spirited Away" in particular will be a revelation -- and a test -- for mainstream audiences. It is, indeed, a foreign film. While made for children, its parade of surreal and often disturbing images seems worlds apart from Disney's usual fare. At times, the film appears better suited for the Ecstasy crowd than the Nickelodeon generation.
Disney, to its credit, presents "Spirited Away" with no cuts or alterations -- an essential provision in the deal with Miyazaki. The director's Studio Ghibli, in fact, had rejected previous offers to bring the master's films to the West before considering Disney's bid.
"I thought, this is an offer of an entirely different order," said Miyazaki's producer, Toshio Suzuki. "And I thought, maybe this is a legacy of Walt Disney."
Buena Vista has released "Spirited Away" in a two-disc set (retail $29.99). The film is presented in widescreen (2.00:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on its English-language track. Those preferring the original Japanese voice talent must settle for Dolby 2.0. Visuals and audio are up to studio standards.
The story follows a sullen 10-year-girl who finds herself trapped in a world filled with spirits and scary monsters. U.S. vocal talent includes Suzanne Pleshette, Michael Chiklis, Lauren Holly and young Daveigh Chas.
The DVD set's extras work well as an introduction to Miyazaki. A Nippon TV making-of follows Miyazaki and his team of young animators as they create "Spirited Away".
"Have you ever seen a snake fall from a tree?" the detail-obsessed Miyazaki asks his team in a storyboard meeting. No? Then it's off to a restaurant to study the movements of eels.
Chihiro, the heroine of "Spirited", is based on the daughter of a friend of the director. "Anyone who comes within 10 feet of Miyazaki is likely to become a character in one of his films," the narrator says. The voracious "No Face" monster -- "desperate to enter the hearts of others" -- is apparently based on the director himself.
The docu slips into "Iron Chef" territory as it chronicles the team's deadline pressures -- "Something's wrong with the copier!" -- but it's a peek at Miyazaki's working life that should intrigue pros and ani fans. Of particular interest are the extended scenes of the director, 62, coaxing performances from his young vocal talent.
A second making-of piece -- standard issue Disney -- covers the U.S. team's work on translation and dubbing. English-language writers Cindy and Donald Hewitt tell how they struggled to translate concepts such as the Japanese kids' hand sign for a "cootie shot."
Disney's animation heavyweights line up to praise Miyazaki.
Hendel Butoy, director of feature animation for the studio, calls him "the greatest animated director alive today." Dave Bossert, artistic coordinator, says he thinks of Miyazaki as "a great conductor."
Pixar's John Lasseter, who introduces all three films on DVD, tells how he screens Miyazaki's films for his animators as a cure for creative block.
Other "Spirited Away" extras include storyboard-to-scene comparisons and a generous collection of original Japanese trailers that seek to draw in audiences via cliffhanger endings.
"Castle in the Sky" (1986) and "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) are more conventional anime adventures that should please Western kids (both two-disc sets retail for $29.98). Disney's dub of "Castle" features Anna Paquin and Cloris Leachman; "Kiki" stars a young Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman (as a wisecracking cat). Both DVD sets include hurried "Behind the Microphone" promo pieces on the U.S. voice talent. The second discs rerun the films with only Miyazaki's original storyboards and the audio track in either Japanese or English.
The union of showbiz superpower Disney and Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki would seem a case of strange bedfellows.
The Walt Disney Co., the mass producer of children's entertainment. Miyazaki, the painstaking auteur behind "Princess Mononoke". Disney, the house of happy endings and familiar themes. Miyazaki, the creator of films that range from the fantastic to seriously weird.
Miyazaki, the animator who winces whenever he's called the "Walt Disney of Japan".
But the trans-Pacific alliance, ongoing since 1998, seems to be paying off.
In March, Miyazaki's dark jewel "Spirited Away" captured the Academy Award for animated feature, in one of the Oscars' best-received surprises.
The film's U.S. release got off to a shaky start last fall, with animation boosters grumbling that it was offered on no more than 700 screens. But with the Oscar win, Disney suddenly was able to justify a wider release. "Spirited Away"'s grosses have doubled in the past month, to a respectable $10 million.
Now Miyazaki seems poised to find his largest U.S. audience with Buena Vista's DVD release of "Spirited Away" and two of his earlier, more accessible children's films.
"Spirited Away" in particular will be a revelation -- and a test -- for mainstream audiences. It is, indeed, a foreign film. While made for children, its parade of surreal and often disturbing images seems worlds apart from Disney's usual fare. At times, the film appears better suited for the Ecstasy crowd than the Nickelodeon generation.
Disney, to its credit, presents "Spirited Away" with no cuts or alterations -- an essential provision in the deal with Miyazaki. The director's Studio Ghibli, in fact, had rejected previous offers to bring the master's films to the West before considering Disney's bid.
"I thought, this is an offer of an entirely different order," said Miyazaki's producer, Toshio Suzuki. "And I thought, maybe this is a legacy of Walt Disney."
Buena Vista has released "Spirited Away" in a two-disc set (retail $29.99). The film is presented in widescreen (2.00:1) with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound on its English-language track. Those preferring the original Japanese voice talent must settle for Dolby 2.0. Visuals and audio are up to studio standards.
The story follows a sullen 10-year-girl who finds herself trapped in a world filled with spirits and scary monsters. U.S. vocal talent includes Suzanne Pleshette, Michael Chiklis, Lauren Holly and young Daveigh Chas.
The DVD set's extras work well as an introduction to Miyazaki. A Nippon TV making-of follows Miyazaki and his team of young animators as they create "Spirited Away".
"Have you ever seen a snake fall from a tree?" the detail-obsessed Miyazaki asks his team in a storyboard meeting. No? Then it's off to a restaurant to study the movements of eels.
Chihiro, the heroine of "Spirited", is based on the daughter of a friend of the director. "Anyone who comes within 10 feet of Miyazaki is likely to become a character in one of his films," the narrator says. The voracious "No Face" monster -- "desperate to enter the hearts of others" -- is apparently based on the director himself.
The docu slips into "Iron Chef" territory as it chronicles the team's deadline pressures -- "Something's wrong with the copier!" -- but it's a peek at Miyazaki's working life that should intrigue pros and ani fans. Of particular interest are the extended scenes of the director, 62, coaxing performances from his young vocal talent.
A second making-of piece -- standard issue Disney -- covers the U.S. team's work on translation and dubbing. English-language writers Cindy and Donald Hewitt tell how they struggled to translate concepts such as the Japanese kids' hand sign for a "cootie shot."
Disney's animation heavyweights line up to praise Miyazaki.
Hendel Butoy, director of feature animation for the studio, calls him "the greatest animated director alive today." Dave Bossert, artistic coordinator, says he thinks of Miyazaki as "a great conductor."
Pixar's John Lasseter, who introduces all three films on DVD, tells how he screens Miyazaki's films for his animators as a cure for creative block.
Other "Spirited Away" extras include storyboard-to-scene comparisons and a generous collection of original Japanese trailers that seek to draw in audiences via cliffhanger endings.
"Castle in the Sky" (1986) and "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) are more conventional anime adventures that should please Western kids (both two-disc sets retail for $29.98). Disney's dub of "Castle" features Anna Paquin and Cloris Leachman; "Kiki" stars a young Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman (as a wisecracking cat). Both DVD sets include hurried "Behind the Microphone" promo pieces on the U.S. voice talent. The second discs rerun the films with only Miyazaki's original storyboards and the audio track in either Japanese or English.
- 4/29/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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