Johnny Depp took a $5 million salary for his Hollywood comeback in Ebenezer.
According to Variety, this is a fraction of what he has earned on previous studio films. The actor’s fee also includes bonuses linked to the film’s box-office performance.
Read more: Johnny Depp makes emotional confession after return to Hollywood
Ebenezer, a new take on A Christmas Carol directed by Ti West of the X horror trilogy, opens in cinemas on Friday 13 November. It is Depp’s first major Hollywood role since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018.
Depp plays a curmudgeonly businessman who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. In the trailer, he scares villagers and stays stingy with Christmas bonuses.
Paramount reportedly spent about $38 million making the film and around $50 million on marketing, though it declined to comment on the figures.
Tracking suggests an opening of about $20 million in the US and Canada, with another $20 million from 63 overseas markets.
Cinema owners are cautiously hopeful.
Mark O’Meara, who runs theatres in Fairfax, Virginia, said reactions have been mixed rather than divided.
Regal chief executive Eduardo Acuna said he is optimistic, arguing the part suits Depp and the filmmaker has his own style.
Classic Cinemas chief executive Chris Johnson said the film will succeed or fail on whether it is compelling, and that audiences seem forgiving.
Audience research points the same way.
An April 2026 study by the National Research Group ranked Depp among the top ten actors who would most interest people in seeing a film in theatres.
Researcher Kevin Goetz said audiences do not care about the controversy surrounding him.
Since leaving the studio films, Depp has appeared in Minamata in 2020 and Jeanne du Barry in 2023, and directed Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness in 2024.
He also has a reported $20 million deal with Dior. The result may also shape his future.
Depp has said he is open to playing Jack Sparrow again, mainly to give Pirates of the Caribbean a better ending, and sources say Disney is weighing the reaction to Ebenezer before it approves another film.
Read more: Johnny Depp sets one major condition for his return as Jack Sparrow
