National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was released by Touchstone Pictures in October 1993, produced through Burton's collaboration with director Henry Selick and Disney. A landmark in stop-motion animation, the film brought a distinctly gothic sensibility to mainstream audiences and demonstrated that the medium could carry a full theatrical musical. Its influence on animation, design, and popular culture has only grown in the decades since.

This three-frame sequence captures consecutive moments from a single shot set within a dungeon-like interior, dominated by a large wooden barred gate with ornate brass fittings. The confirmed cell title, Mummy Boy, points to one of the film's trick-or-treat trio, whose small red-costumed figure is partially visible at the lower left across all three frames.