--- --- # _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ Director Confirms 'It's a Halloween Movie' by [Dana Rose Falcone / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Dana Rose Falcone / Entertainment Weekly Oct 19, 2015 7:10 PM UTC by [Dana Rose Falcone / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Dana Rose Falcone / Entertainment Weekly Oct 19, 2015 7:10 PM UTC In addition to cooler temperatures, an influx of pumpkin products, and flu season, fall also brings a slew of festive films. _Hocus Pocus_, [_Halloweentown_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/17/reasons-to-move-to-halloweentown-anniversary)_,_ and _Casper_ get you in the mood to dress up and binge on candy, and weeks later, _Home Alone_, _Elf_, and _How The Grinch Stole Christmas_ prep us for the most wonderful time of the year. And then there’s _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ — Tim Burton’s 1993 animated film that doesn’t quite fit into either category. So when a curious child got the chance to ask director Henry Selick a question during a [Q&A about the film](http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/10/18/nightmare-before-christmas-is-a-halloween-movie-says-director) at Colorado’s Telluride Horror Show film festival, she wanted to know exactly that: “Is this a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?” (We, too, [posed the question](http://www.ew.com/article/2013/10/29/nightmare-before-christmas-anniversary-halloween-christmas) on the movie’s 20th anniverary and came up with inconclusive results.) “It’s a Halloween movie,” Selick responded, finally putting the debate to rest. So there you have it. Cue up _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ after your next viewing of _The Addams Family_. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/10/19/nightmare-before-christmas-halloween-or-christmas) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/) 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' a Halloween Movie ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4078621/halloween-nightmare-before-christmas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4078621/halloween-nightmare-before-christmas/"},"headline":"The Nightmare Before Christmas Director Confirms 'It's a Halloween Movie'","datePublished":"2015-10-19T19:10:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:54:29.112Z","description":"Tim Burton’s 1993 animated film doesn’t quite fit into either category","url":"https://time.com/4078621/halloween-nightmare-before-christmas/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dana Rose Falcone / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4078621/halloween-nightmare-before-christmas/","name":"The Nightmare Before Christmas Director Confirms 'It's a Halloween Movie'"}}]}] ```