Skellington Productions renamed the studio to Selick Projects. In September 1992, Tim Burton returned to Selick's studio, renamed it Skellington Productions, and sold it to Disney. The first film produced by Skellington Productions (which gave the company its namesake), "The Nightmare Before Christmas", was released theatrically in 1993 under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner to a positive reception and a successful box office, becoming a sleeper hit. Since 2006, "Nightmare" has been released by Walt Disney Pictures and in Disney Digital 3-D format. The second and final film, "James and the Giant Peach", released to theaters in 1996. It was met with positive
Tim Burton to direct. Burton came on and Warner Bros. set a theatrical release date for the summer of 1998, the 60th anniversary of the character's debut in "Action Comics". Nicolas Cage was signed on to play Superman, Burton hired Wesley Strick to rewrite Smith's script and the film entered pre-production in June 1997. For budgetary reasons, Warner Bros. ordered another rewrite from Dan Gilroy, delayed the film and ultimately put it on hold in April 1998. Burton then left to direct "Sleepy Hollow". Burton has depicted the experience as a difficult one, citing differences with producer Jon Peters and the studio,