I guess, for some reason, the lesson is: never leave anything alone. So, you’ve made a perfect pasta, and you’re just about to eat it, but you think, actually, it needs more chilli, so you add some – you have now ruined it. Or, you’re drawing a nice picture, and you’re basically done, hmm, it could do with a bit more green – oh, now it’s shit. Perhaps you’ve made a perfect movie? No, this is not enough, it needs a sequel - you have now made a bad movie.
However – and this is the important part – you have most likely made a lot of money in the process. As long as sequels keep making money, they will continue to be made – this is an unfortunate fact of life. Of course, there are exceptions: when a sequel is welcome, or even – god forbid – good, but they’re few and far between.
Still, we can hold out hope (we can, can’t we?) that today’s news will not result in a turd. They’ve announced a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. But everyone, do not fret, I think we might be OK with this one, because it won’t be a movie. That’s right, the sequel will be in comic book form – phew. Movies going the comic book sequel/prequel/spin-off route is nothing new, although in this case it’s the first time Tim Burton has given up the rights to one of his creations. He’s essentially letting someone else take it in a new direction, which could be risky.
That ‘someone else’ will be Tokyopop, a manga publisher who have already released a comic book adaptation of the original movie. It’ll be written by DJ Milky (who I think probably had a trance hit at some point in the late nineties or something), and drawn by Studio DICE, (who probably did something else but I can’t quite think of a joke to match the name).
The comic, named The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero’s Journey will concern Jack Skellington’s cute dog getting lost in Christmas Town. In a departure from Tokyopop’s usual methods, it’ll first be released as a serial in single-issue form, before finally being clumped together as a full volume.
It’s going to be released in Spring 2018, so you’ve got time to reacquaint yourself with the original movie this Christmas, when it will inevitably be shown on every single channel about five times in a row – maybe with a quick break for Elf, or if you’re the type of insufferable bore who hates Christmas and refuses to watch Christmas films unless they’re horribly violent and very anti-Christmas (me), then Silent Night, Deadly Night. Enjoy!
(Image: Buena Vista Pictures)
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