Tim Burton's delightful stop motion-animated epic, The Nightmare Before Christmas returns to theaters on October 20th in a spectacular new computer-generated 3-D version.  More than 150 digitally-equipped theaters in almost every major North American market will screen the 3-D version of the macabre 1993 classic that was based on a story and characters created by Tim Burton and directed by Henry Sellick (James and the Giant Peach).  Burton is very pleased with the new version, commenting, 'Converting The Nightmare Before Christmas into digital 3-D has taken a very pure little gem and made it that much better.  I am thrilled that all the die hard fans, as well as a new generation of moviegoers, will get the opportunity to experience the move in a whole new way.'

First released in 1993, The Nightmare Before Christmas has probably inspired a greater variety of ingenious toys and figures than any other film in history.  Tim Burton's Gothic character designs have exerted an enormous influence on toy makers both here and in Japan, and the NBC film has also inspired a CCG from NECA (see 'NECA Expands Game Line').  The release of NBC in 3-D can only help to breathe new life into this evergreen property.

The Nightmare before Christmas is the first movie in industry history to be released exclusively in Digital 3-D, and it represents the first time in the history of motion pictures that a 3-D feature has been created from an animated classic.  As ICv2 has previously reported (see 'Star Wars in 3D') re-releasing classic films in digitally-rendered 3-D is a trend that is sure to be increasingly prevalent as more and more theaters adopt digital projection equipment.