Johnny Depp’s return to a major film release has made a strong start at the North American box office, with his Christmas drama Ebenezer earning $6.7 million on Friday, November 13, and leading the day’s ticket sales.
The Paramount Pictures film, based on Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, is expected to take between $18 million and $20 million across 3,535 theatres in North America during its opening weekend. A further $20 million is projected from international markets, potentially bringing its worldwide opening total to between $38 million and $40 million.
The film was made on a production budget of $38 million. It also received an ‘A-’ grade in CinemaScore exit polls, suggesting a positive response from audiences.
Directed by Ti West, known for his X horror trilogy, Ebenezer follows the familiar story of miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge, who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Depp plays Scrooge, with Sam Claflin also starring.
The release marks Depp’s first major film appearance in eight years, following 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. He was removed from the Harry Potter spin-off franchise in 2020 after losing a libel case against British newspaper The Sun, which had described him as a “wife beater”. Depp later won a defamation case in the US against his former wife Amber Heard, who had accused him of domestic abuse.
During his time away from major studio productions, Depp appeared in independent films including Minamata (2020) and Jeanne du Barry (2023). He also directed the 2024 biographical drama Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness.
Meanwhile, Sony’s action thriller Ghost Soldier, starring Jim Caviezel as a former American Special Forces soldier, earned $1.5 million from 2,558 theatres on Friday. The film is projected to collect $4.9 million over the weekend and $8 million during its first five days in release. Its production budget was $18 million.
Amazon MGM’s heist comedy How to Rob a Bank had a weaker opening, taking $2.2 million from 2,810 theatres on Friday. The film, featuring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Pete Davidson, is expected to earn around $4.75 million over the weekend, a disappointing result for a production that cost more than $40 million.
Directed by David Leitch, the R-rated film follows a group of bank robbers who use social media to publicise their heists, only to attract the attention of federal authorities. It received a ‘B-’ CinemaScore grade and a 33 per cent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Although How to Rob a Bank ranked third on Friday, it is projected to fall to seventh place over the weekend, behind several films already in release.
Among those holdovers, Warner Bros Animation’s The Cat in the Hat earned $2.2 million on Friday and is expected to make $10 million by Sunday. That would represent a 50 per cent drop from its opening weekend and take its domestic total to $36.7 million, against a production budget of $92 million.
Godzilla Minus Zero followed closely, earning $2.1 million on Friday. The sequel is projected to bring in $7.5 million in its second weekend, a 75 per cent decline from its debut. Despite the drop, its North American earnings are expected to reach $48.1 million.