In Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington discovers Christmas.
Jack is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, but he becomes dissatisfied with repeating the same Halloween celebration every year. While wandering through a forest, he finds a group of magical doors leading to different holiday worlds. The door marked with a Christmas tree takes him to Christmas Town.
Jack is fascinated by the bright colors, snow, presents, and unfamiliar customs of Christmas Town. He tries to organize his own version of the holiday, but his Halloween-centered understanding leads to comic and chaotic results. The story’s conflict comes from his desire to experience something new rather than from an attempt to destroy Christmas.
The film was produced and conceived by Tim Burton, directed by Henry Selick, and released in 1993. Its stop-motion animation and songs by Danny Elfman became especially associated with Burton’s visual style.