What’s this? A new book about the making and impact of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, just in time for spooky season.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the iconic stop-motion film from Disney and directed by Henry Selick (Wendell and Wild), Epic Ink is publishing Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Beyond Halloween Town: The Story, the Characters, and the Legacy. It’s by writer Emily Zemler, a pop culture expert and historian who’s worked on a number of Disney pop culture volumes—and is aimed at fans of Jack Skellington and the whole of Halloween Town.

The book is out tomorrow, August 22, but io9 exclusively has a page to reveal from the tomb-ful tome about the movie—specifically about the impact The Nightmare Before Christmas has had on alternative scene kids of the Hot Topic generation.

Take a look!

As a self-admitted Hot Topic kid of the ‘90s and early aughts, I can confirm that Jack Skellington toys and gear were a staple of my emo looks—yes, even over Sally. It was a moment that’s never stopped and each year there’s just more to add to the collection. I mean, who can say no to decorating their yard with a 13-ft Jack Skellington animatronic? It’s remarkable to see how Nightmare’s timelessness transcends generations; even now, there’s still that Nightmare Before Christmas section at Hot Topic that makes me feel like a cool goth tia and 2000s HT kid at heart.

The book features an original foreword by Tim Burton, as well as interviews with Burton, animators, sculptors, cast members, and other artists who worked on the film—including Danny Elfman and other musicians, who talk about the legacy of the movie’s soundtrack.

Here’s the cover:

Find the book online and in book stores starting August 22.

This book preview, which features info about major studio projects, was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of writers and actors currently on strike, the films and TV covered here wouldn’t exist.

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