Johnny Depp’s Ebenezer Leads Box Office in Studio Comeback

Johnny Depp is back on top of the North American box office. Paramount’s Ebenezer, Ti West’s spooky take on A Christmas Carol, earned $6.7 million on its opening day, Friday, November 13, 2026, including Thursday previews, and led every other movie in theaters.

Studio and trade estimates released Saturday, November 14, put the film on track for an opening weekend of $18 million to $20 million from 3,535 theaters. Final weekend estimates are due Sunday.

That’s not a blockbuster number. But for a $38 million movie and a star who hasn’t headlined a Hollywood studio release in eight years, it’s a solid start.

Ebenezer box office: the numbers so far

Here’s where things stood after Friday, based on reporting from Variety, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter:

• Opening day: $6.7 million, including about $1.5 million from Thursday previews
• Weekend projection: $18 million to $20 million domestic, with Paramount still pointing to about $20 million
• Overseas: about $20 million expected from 63 markets, including the UK, for a global start near $40 million
• Budget: a reported $38 million, plus a reported $50 million marketing spend, according to TheWrap
• Audience grades: an A- CinemaScore and 4.5 out of 5 stars on PostTrak

Rival studios see the weekend landing a bit lower than Paramount’s number, Deadline reported. Much depends on whether families showed up on Saturday. One good sign: the top-grossing location on Friday was the AMC at Disney Springs in Florida.

Depp is the main reason people bought tickets

This movie was sold on its star, and the early data backs that up. According to PostTrak surveys cited by THR and TheWrap, 50% of moviegoers said Depp was the reason they came.

The crowd skewed a bit older and a bit more female. THR reported that 62% of the Thursday night audience was over 30, and Deadline said women made up 52% of ticket buyers.

Ebenezer is Depp’s first Hollywood studio movie since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018. Warner Bros. dropped him from that franchise in 2020 after he lost his UK libel case against The Sun. He later won his 2022 US defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, a case we broke down in our look at how the Depp and Heard battle shaped both careers.

Deadline noted the opening is close to where his non-franchise dramas Black Mass ($22.6 million in 2015) and Public Enemies ($25.2 million in 2009) started. Those were R-rated films for adults, though. This one is a PG-13 holiday movie that can keep selling tickets through December.

Critics are split, audiences are not

Reviews have been mixed. As of Saturday, the film held a 53% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 89% audience score. The site’s critics consensus says the film “plays things too safe to stand out” among the many earlier versions.

THR critic Frank Scheck was kinder, writing that the film “fulfills its ostensible goal of restoring the actor to A-list status.”

Honestly, that split makes sense. West, best known for the horror films X and Pearl, adds some scary imagery, but this is still the Dickens story everyone knows. Fans who missed Depp in big, strange character roles like Captain Jack Sparrow got exactly what the marketing promised. (If you need a reminder of how attached people still are to that role, see the viral fan image of Depp, Stiller and Sandler as Jack Sparrow.)

How the rest of the weekend looks

It’s a quiet weekend overall, about $80 million for all films, per Deadline. Based on Friday numbers, here’s how other key titles were tracking:

• The Cat in the Hat: about $10 million in its second weekend, for roughly $36.7 million domestic
• Godzilla Minus Zero: about $7.5 million, a steep drop of around 75% from its $30.6 million debut
• How to Rob a Bank: about $4.7 million, a rough start for David Leitch’s heist comedy with Nicholas Hoult and Zoë Kravitz

What happens next

The real test starts next week. Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens November 20, and Deadline says many in the industry think it could open to $100 million. Our guide to the Hunger Games movies in order covers that one.

Ebenezer doesn’t need to win that fight. As a Christmas movie with an A- CinemaScore, it can hold on through the holidays the way seasonal films usually do, and it’s already a natural pick for anyone building a Christmas movie watchlist. If it doubles its budget worldwide, Paramount can call this a win.

Depp’s next studio film is already lined up. He stars with Penélope Cruz and Madelyn Cline in Lionsgate’s thriller Day Drinker, set for March 2027. Final weekend estimates for Ebenezer arrive Sunday, and we’ll update this story when they do.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Ebenezer make on opening day?

Ebenezer earned $6.7 million on Friday, November 13, 2026, including Thursday previews, from 3,535 theaters in North America.

Who plays Scrooge in Ebenezer (2026)?

Johnny Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge. Ti West directed the film for Paramount, with Rupert Grint, Ian McKellen, Andrea Riseborough, Tramell Tillman, Daisy Ridley and Sam Claflin in the cast.

Photo: Johnny Depp in character as Ebenezer Scrooge at San Diego Comic-Con, July 23, 2026, by Kevin Paul, licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.