Paramount Pictures released "Ebenezer," a dark, horror-inflected retelling of Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" starring Johnny Depp as Scrooge, in theaters nationwide on Friday, pairing one of Hollywood's most closely watched comeback bids with one of literature's oldest ghost stories.
The film is directed by Ti West, known for horror films including the "X" trilogy, from a script by Nathaniel Halpern, and recasts the familiar story in a gothic register closer to West's usual register than to typical holiday fare. Industry tracking had the film opening domestically in the high teens to mid-twenties of millions of dollars, a modest figure for a major studio release but one theater owners have described as a defensible outcome for a mid-budget bet on an unconventional take on a public-domain classic.
"A Christmas Carol" has been adapted for film and television dozens of times since the silent era, but studios have typically leaned toward sentimental or comic readings of the material rather than horror. West's version instead treats Scrooge's hauntings as closer to a traditional ghost story, a choice that distinguishes "Ebenezer" from recent holiday-season competitors and gives Paramount a release that does not fit neatly alongside either prestige awards fare or family-friendly counterprogramming in the same window.
A Smaller Paycheck, a Bigger Bet
Paramount spent roughly $38 million to produce "Ebenezer," according to Variety's reporting on the production, and the trade reported that Depp's own fee was scaled back to about $5 million, with additional bonuses tied to the film's box-office performance rather than a conventional upfront payday. That structure reflects the caution studios have continued to show toward Depp since his 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, even though "Ebenezer" represents one of his largest studio roles since that period. Rupert Grint also stars in a supporting part that several outlets have described as a sharp departure from the role that made him famous.
Depp has not anchored a significant box-office success since 2018, a stretch that spans the decline of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, the collapse of his "Fantastic Beasts" role, and the publicity around his legal battles. Paramount's willingness to build a theatrical release around him, albeit on a comparatively contained budget, has made "Ebenezer" a test case watched closely across the industry for whether his name still carries commercial weight with general audiences, as distinct from the loyal fan base that has followed him through the past several years.
Mixed Early Reaction
Test screenings held earlier this fall were reported as encouraging for Paramount, but the first public reactions to "Ebenezer" have split sharply. Pre-release coverage framed the film's commercial performance as a genuine referendum on audience willingness to turn out for Depp again, rather than a question of whether curious viewers would simply sample the film once.
Reaction to the trailer and early screenings has divided along similar lines. Some viewers have praised the film's atmosphere and called Depp's performance among his strongest in years. Others, including at least one reviewer among the first wave of critics, singled out his Scrooge specifically as the production's weakest element, even while praising the surrounding cast and West's direction.
The split reception leaves "Ebenezer" without the kind of consensus that typically drives a strong opening weekend through word of mouth, and places more weight on the marketing campaign's ability to draw audiences who are curious about Depp's performance regardless of the reviews. Paramount has leaned into that curiosity rather than away from it, building trailers and press materials around the unusual pairing of Depp with horror-genre sensibilities rather than softening the film's tone for a broader holiday-movie audience.
Box-office analysts will have a clearer picture of the film's trajectory once Sunday's weekend estimates are finalized, and the result is likely to shape how studios weigh future projects built around Depp, as well as how aggressively Paramount markets the film through the holiday corridor it was designed to occupy.
