Tim Burton predecessor. Burton produced, but did not direct, due to schedule constraints on "Batman Returns", "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993) for Disney, originally meant to be a children's book in rhyme. The film was directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson, based on Burton's original story, world and characters. The film received positive reviews for the stop motion animation, musical score and original storyline. It was a box office success, grossing $50 million.Because of the ruling nature of the film, it was not produced under Disney's name, but rather Disney owned Touchstone Pictures. Disney also fought for the protagonist
Tim Burton's unrealized projects rights. That's half the battle right there. Though it no longer seems like something he'd do. It's a little too horror for him now in my opinion. Though I would love to see this film get made." Around 1995, writer Jonathan Gems wrote a screenplay for a film adaptation of "Dinosaurs Attack!", with Burton as director. However, both Burton and Gems came to the conclusion that the project was too similar to "Jurassic Park". In 1996, when Burton was the CEO and founder of Walt Disney Animation Studios' stop-motion studio division Skellington Productions, he was going to produce the studio's