Johnny Depp's long-awaited return to a studio tentpole arrived Friday with the theatrical release of Ebenezer, a horror-tinged retelling of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol that casts Depp as a far darker, more unsettling Scrooge than audiences are used to. Paramount is distributing the film, directed by X and Pearl filmmaker Ti West from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern.

It is Depp's first major leading studio role since his highly publicized 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, a case that dominated headlines for weeks and effectively froze his standing with several Hollywood studios. The film reunites him with a starry supporting cast that includes Rupert Grint and Andrea Riseborough.

Early reactions lean positive

Ahead of wide release, critics who caught early screenings described the film as tonally stranger and bloodier than a typical holiday adaptation, while largely praising Depp's performance in the title role. One outlet called it a "wickedly fun holiday treat" in its roundup of first reactions, while other reviewers highlighted West's willingness to lean into the story's ghostly, gothic elements rather than play it safe. Not every response was glowing — some social commentary singled out Depp's performance specifically as the element that didn't land for them — but the overall early consensus trended favorable, an outcome that was far from guaranteed given the scrutiny on Depp's first major comeback vehicle.

A WICKEDLY FUN HOLIDAY TREAT

Pre-release box office trackers had offered a wide range of opening-weekend projections. Boxoffice Pro estimated a domestic opening between $20 million and $25 million, with roughly $40 million globally, while other trackers put the floor closer to $10 million to $20 million domestically. Analysts cautioned that the film's genuinely macabre tone — a sharper break from family-friendly Christmas fare than its marketing sometimes let on — made it unusually difficult to forecast. Official opening-weekend numbers were not yet available as of Friday night.

A career at a crossroads

However Ebenezer performs commercially, its release marks a real test of how much of the audience and industry goodwill Depp lost after 2022 has returned. He has worked steadily in smaller or international productions since then, but a wide Paramount release carrying his name above the title is a different proposition, and both critics and box office analysts have treated the film's reception as a referendum on whether he can again anchor a major studio picture.