The spirits arrived early for Paramount. Ebenezer pulled in $6.7 million on Friday from 3,535 theaters, including $1.5 million from Thursday previews, enough to put Ti West’s gothic spin on A Christmas Carol at the top of the North American box office.
Paramount estimates a $20 million opening weekend at home, with rival studios seeing the film finish between $18 million and $20 million, plus about another $20 million overseas for a worldwide start near $40 million. The PG-13 film was made for a reported $38 million, modest for a holiday release, so a long December run matters more to its bottom line than the opening frame.
Moviegoers are warmer on it than critics. Opening audiences gave Ebenezer an A- CinemaScore and 4.5 out of 5 stars on PostTrak, with about half of early ticket buyers saying Johnny Depp was their reason for going.
Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge in West’s darker take on the Charles Dickens classic, with Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, and Daisy Ridley, Andrea Riseborough and Sam Claflin rounding out the cast. It is Depp’s first major studio film since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018, after several years working in independent and foreign productions.
TDN has followed the film since its first trailer debuted at San Diego Comic-Con in July, followed by a second trailer in October. Ebenezer is now playing in theaters, and it gets one clear weekend at the top before The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping arrives on Friday.