Christmas arrived at the multiplex a little ahead of schedule this weekend, and it came wearing a nightcap. Ebenezer, Paramount’s new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with Johnny Depp as the most famous miser in literature, took first place at the North American box office on Friday with an estimated $6.7 million from 3,535 theaters.
Trade reports now project an opening weekend of roughly $18 million to $20 million domestically, with about another $20 million expected from international markets. That would put the film’s global start somewhere around $38 million to $40 million — a comfortable result for a movie that reportedly cost about $38 million to make.
A horror director’s take on a holiday classic
The most intriguing name attached to Ebenezer might not be its star but its director. Ti West built his reputation on the X horror trilogy, films that delighted in slow-burning dread and sharp bursts of the macabre. Handing him a story about a cold-hearted businessman visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve sounds, on paper, like either an inspired match or a strange gamble.
Audiences seem to have decided it was the former. Opening-night crowds gave the PG-13 film an “A-” grade on CinemaScore, which usually signals healthy word of mouth heading into the following weeks. Dickens’ tale has always had a spooky streak — chains rattling in the dark, a faceless figure pointing at a lonely grave — and a filmmaker comfortable with atmosphere has plenty to work with before the story turns warm and redemptive.
A comeback weekend for its star
Ebenezer is also Depp’s first major studio release in eight years, since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018. In the years between, after his highly publicized legal battles, he appeared mostly in smaller independent films such as Minamata and Jeanne du Barry and directed the biopic Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness. Whatever audiences think of the off-screen headlines, a first-place finish gives the actor a clear commercial win and gives Paramount a seasonal title that can keep playing through December.
The rest of the chart
Behind Scrooge, the weekend looks considerably quieter:
- The Cat in the Hat (Warner Bros. Animation) held second place with about $2.2 million on Friday and is expected to collect around $10 million for the weekend, roughly half its debut. That would lift its domestic total to approximately $36.7 million — still a long way from its reported $92 million budget.
- Godzilla Minus Zero added about $2.1 million on Friday after last weekend’s record-setting opening. A projected $7.5 million second weekend represents a steep drop, but the kaiju sequel is on track for roughly $48.1 million in North America so far.
- How to Rob a Bank, the Amazon MGM heist comedy with Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Pete Davidson, earned about $2.2 million on Friday but is pacing for only around $4.75 million over the weekend, alongside a “B-” CinemaScore.
- Ghost Soldier, Sony’s action thriller starring Jim Caviezel, opened with about $1.5 million on Friday and is tracking toward roughly $4.9 million for the three-day frame.
Why Ebenezer could keep going
Holiday films tend to have long legs, because families revisit them as the season gets closer and schools let out. With an encouraging audience grade, a modest budget and very little direct seasonal competition this early in November, Ebenezer has a real chance to turn a solid opening into one of the more profitable studio releases of the autumn. For now, at least, the old miser is counting a lot of coins — and this time, nobody seems to mind.