National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas was released by Touchstone Pictures in October 1993, produced through Burton's vision and directed by Henry Selick. The stop-motion animated feature arrived at a moment when the medium was rarely seen at feature length, and its blending of gothic sensibility with holiday themes earned it a lasting place in animation history. The film's handcrafted aesthetic, requiring years of meticulous frame-by-frame work, makes any surviving 35mm material a direct artifact of that process.

This cell captures the Christmas morning sequence, presenting Vampire Teddy among the warmly lit holiday interior with its decorated tree and candlelight. Little Girl and Little Girl, portrayed by Mia Brown, appear among the presents and seasonal decorations across the repeated frames, offering a quiet domestic counterpoint to the film's darker register.