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The Nightmare Before Christmas cast explain why there will never be a sequel
“You are all the sequel,” Oogie Boogie voice actor Ken Page says.
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The Nightmare Before Christmas is a cultural phenomenon. The 1993 animated musical continues to be a holiday classic, thrilling multiple generations. It’s hard to walk into a Hot Topic store without seeing Nightmare merchandise. The film has a heavy presence in Disney theme parks, particularly around Halloween and Christmas. Its cultural footprint is immeasurable.
So, where’s the sequel?
After all, when a movie is a success, don’t studios usually commission a sequel? The Nightmare Before Christmas is a different story.
Chris Sarandon, who voices Jack Skellington, and Ken Page, who voices Oogie Boogie, recently appeared at GalaxyCon San Jose. During a spotlight panel for The Nightmare Before Christmas, the two actors explained why the film will never get a sequel.
In Page’s eyes, the fan culture that spawned from the film is the sequel. “The thing that’s come after the film, some of this, some of the devotion to this, is the sequel of a sort.”
Sarandon echoed his sentiments, noting that multiple generations continue to enjoy the film. “It’s a testament to the artistry of the people who made it, the animators, bless them, and also of Henry Selick, who we were in the studio with constantly over a period of a couple of years. It’s alive, it’s astonishing.”
“I mean it continues, and in the sense of what sequel really means, continual, continuum, or continuing….I think that we are the sequel. You are all the sequel,” Page said.
A fan asked Sarandon if a sequel would tarnish the film’s legacy, but the actor wasn’t concerned. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. It’s sort of been so totally quashed by both Tim [Burton] and Henry, particularly Tim, who feels that all the talk of there being a sequel really doesn’t affect him, because he really feels that this one did it, and why go there. Why try to recreate the magic, when the magic is part of what’s happening here?”
Sarandon and Page have a point. No sequel could ever capture the magic or heart that the fandom has become. The Nightmare Before Christmas sequel isn’t a movie, it’s a collective fan experience.
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