I’m a big fan of Tugg, especially since they had The Princess Bride in their library, which allowed us to host an awesome screening of the film back in October.  Tugg has added more titles to their library, and they’ve lined up a nice variety of holiday movies.  There are the ones that are fun for the whole family like Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, and Christmas Vacation, but they also have the films that are for a more mature audience.  While Tugg bills them as “feel-bad”, I don’t feel anything but joy from watching Die Hard and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

Hit the jump to check out “Tugg’s Top 8 Feel-Bad Holiday Films”.  And for Atlanta readers, we’re hosting a screening of one of these movies… Look for an announcement soon.

Threadless, one of my favorite online t-shirt companies, just released a bunch of The Nightmare Before Christmas inspired shirts.  If you’re not aware, Threadless relies on their users to create and design what they sell, so you often get some very inspired and unusual stuff.  In addition, Threadless only creates a limited amount of product, so they often sell out fast and once they’re gone, that’s it.  So if you’re interested in checking out the shirts (they’re a little over $20 each), hit the jump for the images or you can click here to see them on Threadless.  Some of them are really well done.

The black and white, stop-motion animated 3D film Frankenweenie, from director Tim Burton and based on the ideas in his 1984 live-action short, is a tale about a boy and his beloved dog. After unexpectedly losing Sparky, young Victor (voiced by Charlie Tahan) sews him back together and harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life, but quickly faces unintended and sometimes monstrous consequences for his actions. The voice cast also includes Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Atticus Shaffer and Winona Ryder.  Here’s the recent trailer.  Frankenweenie hits theaters October 5, 2012.

Last week I got to sit down with producer Don Hahn at Comic-Con.  During our wide ranging interview we talked about making Frankenweenie, if it was tough to get the studio on board, if the current popularity of The Nightmare Before Christmas helped get the film made, and more.  In addition, with Hahn producing Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie, we talked about how that’s been going, what Easter Eggs people should look for at Disneyland and Disney World, what he collects, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

File this one in the rumor pile for now, but Tim Burton might be developing a sequel to his 1993 classic The Nightmare Before Christmas.  In a recent interview [via Dread Central], Paul “Pee-wee Herman” Reubens said he would like to reteam with Burton in the future (the two teamed up for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure), but that the director has a slew of potential projects already lined up.  Reubens then proceeded to rattle off a list of various films Burton was developing and one of them was reportedly a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Burton’s garnered a lot of clout ever since Alice in Wonderland broke a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.  However, his next project is an adaptation of the 1960s gothic soap opera series Dark Shadows starring (who else) Johnny Depp.  Filming on Dark Shadows is set to begin in April.  It’s possible that Burton could still be developing a Nightmare sequel on the side, and just like the original, will hire someone else to direct. [Update: Derek Frey, a producer and executive at Tim Burton Productions, tells The Playlist that there is no truth to the rumor.]

With every favorites list – be it book, TV, or film – comes a bit of controversy. Several titles make the list that many feel shouldn’t have, while others are excluded that probably deserved mention. Last week we posted our Top 10 Christmas films, which more or less covered the films we felt reflected the spirit of the holidays. Due to the popularity (or lack thereof) of that list, we decided to put together an alternate Holiday Films collection without the constraints imposed upon the original list. In this instance we were free to include any and all films that took place within the holiday, whether they exuded a radiance of yuletide spirit or not. So, without further ado, hit the jump for Collider’s Alternate List of Christmas Films.

Disney has made a yearly tradition out of releasing The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D around Halloween.  This year, they’ll not only be re-releasing the film in 3D, but Hero Complex reports that Nightmare is going “4D” at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood.  That means 3D plus special effects like wind and fog in the theater itself.  I’ll be particularly impressed if someone rips off their own skull and throws it into the audience.

Hero Complex also reports that composer Danny Elfman is scheduled to perform at 7pm before the October 22nd showing.  He’ll be performing material from the upcoming Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box.  Tickets to the El Capitan can be purchased at the box office (6838 Hollywood Blvd), online, or by calling 1-800-DISNEY6.

Artist “Hexagonall” has designed minimalist posters [via The Awesomer]  for all of Tim Burton’s movies, plus his short films Vincent, Frankenweenie, and The Adventures of Stainboy (although The Nightmare Before Christmas was actually directed by Henry Selick).  For those who don’t know “Hexagonall”, he/she’s the gent/lady who designed the Lost/Saul Bass mash-up back in March. If you like Tim Burton’s movies and minimalist artwork, hit the jump to check out these posters.  You can click here if you want to buy them.

Director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Oscar-nominated Coraline) has signed an exclusive long-term deal with Disney to create stop-motion animated films for the studio.  Variety reports that Selick plans to move to the Bay Area and plans to write and direct films based on original ideas and literary properties.

The signing of Selick is yet another example of how Pixar and Disney Animation Studios head John Lasseter is bringing back all animation to the studio.  Last year, The Princess and the Frog marked the first 2D animated musical for Disney since 2004′s Home on the Range.  Selick made his directing debut for Disney back in 1993 with Nightmare and Coraline grossed $75 million.  That film, plus Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mary & Max, and A Town Called Panic, shows there’s definitely interest for stop-motion animation.  I personally love the medium and Selick is one of its kings.

It’s wonderful news that Lasseter (who developed a friendship with Selick back in their days at the California Institute for the Arts) has given Selick the creative freedom to bring us more great movies.

A few days ago I sat down with director Henry Selick (“Coraline”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “James and the Giant Peach”) for a very extensive interview.  While I spoke to him earlier this year before “Coraline” got released, with Focus Features trying to get “Coraline” nominated for Best Animated Feature (it absolutely deserves a nomination!) Selick has been talking to journalists and I was lucky enough to land a spot.  While we touched on “Coraline”, most of the interview covered other subjects.  Since most of you might not have the time to watch the entire interview, here are some highlights.  But if you’re a fan of Henry Selick, you definitely want to watch the interview after the jump as it was great.

• Says his next project might be another collaboration with Gaiman. If it’s not the next one, it’s the project after the next one.  Says there are some issues to deal with before production could start.
• I ask what might be his next project if it’s not with Gaiman. Says he wrote an original treatment years ago (it’s 84 pages) and that might be the next project. Says it’s tonally another scary film for kids.  Calls it a cousin of Coraline.
• In the next two weeks a lot is going to be known about his next project.  He is working out a deal with a studio right now. Says he is unsure if they will announce one project or 3 or 4 projects as a lot is coming together right now
• Talks about why he left Laika Studios
• Reveals he was going to work with Wes Anderson on Fantastic Mr. Fox but when financing came in for Coraline, he had to drop out.  Says when they worked together on The Life Aquatic they talked about it.
• Wants to do a midnight re-release of Coraline and call it “Coraline Unfixed”. In this edition you wouldn’t see any of the digital fixes.  He explains what the edition would entail in the interview. It sounds awesome.
• They have spoken to him about the James and the Giant Peach Blu-ray
• Talks about a sequence that was never used in Nightmare Before Christmas and how it’s gone and may never be seen. It’s a head credit sequence that was animated candy corn.
• Wants to remaster all his short films and his MTV work and release it on DVD/Blu-ray.  Says all the elements have been assembled and he just has to find the time to do it.

Again, if you’re a fan, you definitely want to watch this interview: