10 cool facts you didn’t know about ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and has been many fans annual Halloween/Christmas movie rewatch list.

The “sleeper hit” was released on Oct. 29, 1993, to rate reviews from critics and fans The story follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of  “Halloween Town” who falls through a holiday portal to “Christmas Town” and decides to take over the holiday from Santa Claus.

There’s a lot of lore behind the movie. Here are 10 facts you might not know about the film.

1. While always touted as “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Burton did not direct “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” It was directed by Henry Selick. Burton wanted to direct the film but was already working on “Batman Returns” and “Ed Wood.”

2. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is based on Tim Burton’s original poem. He wrote it after seeing Halloween displays replaced with Christmas decorations.

3. In the poem, only Jack, Zero and Santa existed. The rest of the characters were created for the movie.

4. Jack made his movie debut in Burton’s “Beetlejuice” film. The character can be seen on top of Beetlejuice’s carnival hat.

5. Vincent Price was supposed to be the voice of Santa, but Price’s wife Coral Browne passed in 1991 and was to grief-stricken to play the role.

6. Disney didn’t want to be attached to the film. When it was initially released, it was deemed “too dark for kids.” The movie was released under Touchstone Pictures. After the film’s success, the movie was re-released in 3D, and this time, Disney attached its name to the banner.

7. Burton also turned down Disney’s attempt to build a “Nightmare Before Christmas” ride. The company wanted to create a themed ride next to their “It’s a Small World” attraction, but the producer, who owns 50 percent of the rights to the characters, shut down the idea.

8. It took three years to make the move and required a crew of about 100 people.

9. Burton never wanted to make a sequel to the movie. . .”I felt the movie had a purity to it and the people that like it. Because it’s not a mass-market kind of thing, it was important to kind of keep that purity of it,” he told MTV.

10. There is an alternate ending. In the extended version of the film, Santa Claus returns to Halloween Town years later where he visits Jack, who now has several skeleton children