“What’s this? What’s this? There’s color everywhere.” So begins the signature song from the beloved holiday classic The Nightmare Before Christmas, a stop-motion animated film that has continued to enchant viewers ever since it was released in 1993. The story of Halloween Town’s Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, and his discovery of the candy cane-colored splendor of Christmas Town, sprang from the warped minds of Tim Burton, who produced and wrote the story for the film, and Henry Selick, who directed it.
The rare holiday film that’s perfect for both Christmas and Halloween, The Nightmare Before Christmas has become a traditional staple for families and jaded Gen Xers to watch around December. But where can you watch it?
If you want to see Jack and his ragdoll girlfriend, Sally, as well as the sinister Doctor Finkelstein and the groovy boogeyman Oogie Boogie, head to Disney+ to begin streaming.
Launched in November 2019, Disney Plus has become a leading stalwart in the streaming service space. Boasting one of the best libraries of movies and TV shows around — including some of the best original series from the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars franchises — Disney+ has shot up to 129.8 million subscribers worldwide as of February 2022. That puts it toe-to-toe with the likes of Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and others.
Despite a library that isn’t quite as large as that of Netflix, Disney+ makes up for it in quality. It’s the exclusive streaming platform for a significant portion of Disney’s massive content archive and the only place to see new originals like Andor, Obi-wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian, Hawkeye, and WandaVision. Plus, with content from National Geographic and deals that can also net you Hulu and ESPN+ for one price, Disney+ is a formidable service.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is currently streaming on Disney+.
At just $8 per month and $80 for the year, with no ads (rising to $11 and $110 on December 8, 2022), it’s more affordable than Netflix ($15.50 per month) and HBO Max ($15 per month). And the Disney Bundle (there are now several versions) is a great deal, the most basic of which gives you Disney+ (no ads), Hulu, and ESPN+ with ads for just $15. Disney+ shows no signs of slowing down and is more popular than ever.
Yes! This is one of those holiday classics that’s ostensibly meant for kids, but anyone can enjoy it. And even though other excellent stop-motion animated films have been made since — like Coraline (also by Selick) and The Corpse Bride — there’s nothing that quite compares to this one.
Part of that reason is the visuals, which are just stunning. It’s the rare animated film that was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards (it lost to Jurassic Park). Another reason is the stacked vocal cast, which is peppered with stars and character actor veterans like Schitt’s Creek‘s Catherine O’Hara, film composter Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, William Hickey, and Pee-Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Nightmare Before Christmas registers 95% on the Tomatometer and an 91% audience score. The movie is 75 minutes long.
Stream The Nightmare Before Christmas on Disney+ today.
China just gave Hollywood a cautionary tale about AI filmmaking. Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed as the country's first fully AI-generated movie, hit theaters on October 23 and bombed at the box office.
According to Futurism, the film's reported $1.5 million production budget landed on more than 10,000 screens. Yet it pulled in only about $181,000, averaging roughly $20 per screen, making the budget difficult to recover.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?