The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood launched its annual engagement of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas with a special fan event on Friday evening. Upon arrival, attendees were given a commemorative credential, bottled beverage, and popcorn, and were encouraged to check out the decorated lobby. For those wanting even more concessions, the Mickey Mummy popcorn bucket, Donald candycorn sipper, and light-up Zero popcorn container were also available for purchase. This was a neat benefit for those that have yet to be able to purchase them at the parks.
Downstairs was an exhibit featuring props from before The Nightmare Before Christmas as well as Hocus Pocus. This included City Hall and the iconic hill from the stop-motion classic. As we took our seats, the iconic organist Rob Richards arose to the stage wearing a Halloween appropriate cape while he played some Disney and spooky classics. Hearing the theme from Phantom of the Opera on the Mighty Wurlitzer was worth the price of admission.
After his set, we were treated to a panel discussion moderated by Disney Legend Don Hahn and featuring former Imagineer Tori McClullough and current Disney employee Kelsey McCullough. While the two women have their own Disney careers, they were there to discuss Tori’s father and Kelsey’s grandfather, X Atencio. X had a long and diverse career at Disney that started as an inbetweener on Pinocchio and also included writing the script and lyrics for Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. Perhaps less well known, is his efforts at Disney on stop-animation where he worked with Bill Justice.
Amongst the stop-motion work done by X included the short Noah’s Ark, a segment of A Symposium of Popular Songs, the title sequence of Babes in Toyland, the marching toy soldiers in Babes in Toyland, and the “Spoonful of Sugar” segment of Mary Poppins. This laid the groundwork of stop-motion animation at Disney that continued with Tim Burton’s short Vincent and continued with features such as James and the Giant Peach and Frankenweenie.
The most successful stop-motion feature Disney has ever done was The Nightmare Before Christmas. While the film is an annual tradition now which has spawned a wide variety of merchandise, fan art, and theme park attractions, the film was not initially successful. But the film has become a phenomenon and is annually screened at the El Capitan in its 4-D edition. This year, the experience which includes synchronized lighting, fog effects, and much more, will run through Halloween night.
To purchase tickets to The Nightmare Before Christmas, visit the El Capitan website. For more on X Atencio, read Alex’s coverage of a recent Walt Disney Family Museum event on his legacy.