LOS ANGELES — Johnny Depp's long-awaited Hollywood comeback vehicle, "Ebenezer," opened at No. 1 at the North American box office this weekend, pulling in an estimated $19 million domestically and roughly $42 million worldwide — Depp's first time atop the charts in eight years.

The horror-tinged retelling of "A Christmas Carol," directed by Ti West, knocked "Godzilla Minus Zero" from the top spot after the Japanese monster movie's second-weekend gross collapsed 75% — one of the steepest sophomore drops of any first-run Godzilla release, according to Screen Rant's chart analysis. "Ebenezer" added roughly $23 million overseas to round out its global haul.

Critics Split, Audiences Sold

Reviews for the film have been mixed — it currently holds a 54% score on Rotten Tomatoes — but general audiences responded far more warmly, handing it an A- CinemaScore, a strong grade for a horror-adjacent release aimed at the holiday crowd. Depp, who took a reported $5 million salary for the role according to trade reporting on the deal, had not topped the domestic box office since 2018's "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald."

DEPP'S FIRST NO. 1 SINCE 2018

The film's path to theaters was itself a story: Depp's box-office drawing power had been an open question in Hollywood since his high-profile 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, which was followed by a string of smaller, lower-profile international projects. Paramount's decision to greenlight a modestly budgeted (reported at $38 million by Variety) wide release was widely seen in the industry as a test case for whether mainstream US audiences would still turn out for him.

A Quiet Weekend Overall

Industry trackers described the broader weekend as a quiet one for the box office outside of "Ebenezer's" debut, with no other new wide release cracking the top three. That made Depp's opening — while modest by blockbuster standards — disproportionately significant as an industry signal heading into the crowded holiday corridor, when "Ebenezer" will compete against bigger-budget awards-season and franchise titles for screens.

What's Next

Paramount will be watching how the film holds up over Thanksgiving week, traditionally one of the best stretches of the year for family and holiday-themed releases, as a signal of whether "Ebenezer" can be a sustained hit rather than a front-loaded curiosity opening.