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 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Joint venture |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | 1985; 41 years ago (1985) |
| Founders | Henry Selick Tim Burton |
| Defunct | 1998; 28 years ago (1998) |
| Fate | Merged withTim Burton Productions and absorbed intoWalt Disney Pictures |
| Successor |
|
| Headquarters | , United States |
Production output | Stop motion |
| Parent | Walt Disney Feature Animation |
Skellington Productions was an Americananimation studio andproduction company that was a joint venture betweenWalt Disney Feature Animation and directorsHenry Selick andTim Burton. The company specialized instop motion animation and made use of the art in its two films.[1] The studio's last work was season one ofKaBlam!, after which it was closed by Disney.[citation needed]
After Tim Burton directed his directorial debut,Pee-wee's Big Adventure, he and Henry Selick formed the company in 1985 asSelick/Burton Projects, where Burton could direct episodes ofAlfred Hitchcock Presents andShelley Duvall'sFaerie Tale Theatre, while Henry Selick could focus on doing animation. In 1988, Tim Burton left to work onBeetlejuice, and Selick renamed the studio toSelick Projects. During this period, Selick Projects produced commercials forMTV,Ritz, andPillsbury.
In September 1992, Tim Burton returned to Selick's studio, renamed itSkellington Productions, and sold it toDisney. The first film produced by Skellington Productions (which gave the company its namesake),The Nightmare Before Christmas, was released theatrically in1993 under Disney'sTouchstone Pictures banner to a positive reception and a successful box office, becoming asleeper hit. Since 2006,Nightmare has been released byWalt Disney Pictures and inDisney Digital 3-D format.
Three months later, Disney released Skellington's second feature,Cabin Boy, starringChris Elliott and directed by screenwriter,Adam Resnick. Tim Burton was a fan of the showGet a Life and commissioned Elliott and Resnick to write him a screenplay. When Burton received the script, he liked it very much and was going to direct it. At last minute, Burton got an offer to directEd Wood instead, so Burton jumped ship fromCabin Boy and handed the directing duties to Resnick, who had never directed anything in his life. When the film was released on January 7, 1994, the reception was overwhelmingly negative and was a huge flop at the box office. This film affected both Chris Elliott and Adam Resnick's careers for a long while.
Skellington's third and final film,James and the Giant Peach, based on the classic children's novel byRoald Dahl, was released to theaters in1996.[2] Disney closed Skellington after the film became a box office flop despite positive reviews.
Aside from film, Skellington Productions also produced theLife with Loopy segments ofNickelodeon's TV seriesKaBlam! for its first season. Production onLife with Loopy moved to Custer Avenue Stages after Disney closed Skellington.[citation needed]
The studio's original logo is a skeleton of a human hand.
| Year | Title | Co-production with | Distributor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Nightmare Before Christmas | Touchstone Pictures | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution | |
| 1994 | Cabin Boy | |||
| 1996 | James and the Giant Peach | Walt Disney Pictures Allied Filmmakers | The last film to be made from the studio | |
| KaBlam! | Nickelodeon Animation Studios | MTV Networks | Life with Loopy (season 1 only) |
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