What's This? The Nightmare Before Christmas Re-Enters The Top 5 At The Box Office
30 years after its original release, "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is, once again, doing big business at the box office. The unquestioned multi-holiday classic — as both a Halloween movie and a Christmas movie — was re-released by Disney in more than 1,600 theaters over the weekend in honor of its 30th anniversary. Audiences turned up in a big way as the film made its way into the top five on the domestic charts.
Director Henry Selick's "Nightmare Before Christmas" landed at number five on the charts for the weekend with a $4.1 million haul, per The Numbers. That put it ahead of "Saw X" ($3.58 million) and behind "Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie" ($4.45 million), both of which were in their fourth weekends. Meanwhile, the Tim Burton-produced claymation classic originally hit theaters in limited release on October 13, 1993. The movie's running global total now stands at $95.3 million and counting. Depending on how well this re-release goes, the film has a shot at crossing the $100 million mark a full three decades after its original release. That's pretty remarkable.
Disney only said that the film will be in theaters once again for a "limited time," but it's unclear just how long that will be. For what it's worth, "Hocus Pocus" also recently returned to theaters for its 30th anniversary and has remained on screens for several weeks. So "Nightmare" could very well enjoy a nice little run here as we head into the holiday season.
A classic with a loyal audience
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" focuses on the Pumpkin King Jack Skellington and the people of Halloween Land. Jack, bored with the same old scare-and-scream routine, finds the desire to instead spread the joy of Christmas. However, his mission puts Santa in jeopardy, while also putting Christmas at risk for all of the children of the world. The cast includes Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, and the late Paul Reubens.
What's remarkable about the film's commercial situation is that it only grossed $50 million in its original run against a $24 million budget. That made it a middling success for Disney. However, it has found a loyal audience over the decades and, as a result, these periodical re-releases have been quite lucrative. The 2006 3D re-release alone brought in $11.1 million. This film's audience has continued to grow as time goes on, as it appears to be more than just '90s kids keeping it alive. Hence, about half of its box office has come through re-releases well after its initial run in theaters. That's pretty impressive.
This is also to say nothing of the millions upon millions that Disney has made from other revenue streams built off the back of this film and its characters. It's sold well on every home video format, it is a regular on cable, it undoubtedly pulls in VOD money every Halloween season, and the amount of merch produced based on the movie is truly staggering. Just walk into any Hot Topic from September to November. This is just the latest chapter for a movie that has had a unique journey, to say the least of it.
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is in theaters now.