Johnny Depp kicked off the final promotional stretch for his return to major studio filmmaking by hosting an intimate, invite-only screening of Paramount Pictures’ upcoming feature Ebenezer at The Whitby Hotel in New York City on November 1. The supernatural reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday story, directed by Ti West and written by Nathaniel Halpern, arrives in U.S. theaters on November 13, 2026. The project serves as a closely watched box office test for the 63-year-old actor following years of legal battles that sidelined his mainstream Hollywood career.

Different entertainment outlets characterize the length of Depp’s absence from studio-backed releases slightly differently. While The Guardian describes Ebenezer as his first big Hollywood studio production in eight years, Hollywood.com frames the gap as seven years, and People notes it is his first movie with a major U.S. distributor since 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Regardless of the exact metric, industry analysts view the release as a critical indicator of whether general audiences are ready to embrace Depp as a leading man once again.

Inside the New York Screening and Bryant Park Stunt

The November 1 preview in Manhattan eschewed the massive red-carpet premieres typical of studio holiday releases. According to Page Six, the Sunday night gathering was an invite-only event that drew an eclectic mix of film, television, and music figures. Attendees included director Ti West and co-stars Andrea Riseborough and Tramell Tillman, alongside guests Hayley Atwell, Britt Lower, Kyle MacLachlan, Patti Smith, Shaboozey, Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan, and Matt Friend. While Page Six framed the night as a star-studded special screening, IndieWire pointed out that The Whitby Hotel’s screening room holds just 147 seats, making it an unusually small venue for unveiling a studio feature.

The following evening, Depp shifted from private host to public spectacle.

Wearing full makeup and a fright wig as the miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge, the actor staged a surprise takeover of the Christmas Market at New York’s Bryant Park. In videos shared by the film's official social media accounts and detailed by Yahoo Entertainment, Depp stayed completely in character while disrupting early holiday festivities. He interrupted a choir of carolers by yelling "Shut up!", tossed free cookies onto the ground, tore down garlands, kicked aside holiday nutcrackers and gnomes, popped balloons, toppled a Christmas tree, and argued with a local Santa Claus.

The Bryant Park appearance mirrors a similar promotional strategy deployed in July at San Diego Comic-Con, where Depp also appeared in full Scrooge attire and took the stage during Collider’s Directors on Directing panel to debut the film's first trailer.

Publicity veterans noted to IndieWire that appearing strictly in character allows Depp to generate viral social media engagement while avoiding traditional press junkets and podcast interviews where he might be asked to address his personal life.

Paramount's Marketing Strategy and Box Office Math

Ebenezer was one of the first projects boarded by Paramount following its 2025 acquisition by Skydance. Producer Emma Watts assembled a prominent supporting cast around Depp, including Ian McKellen, Daisy Ridley, Rupert Grint, Sam Claflin, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, and Charlie Murphy. Director Ti West praised his leading man's approach to the classic text, telling Entertainment Weekly in remarks cited by AOL that Depp brought a distinct musicality to Dickens’s dialogue, adding, "He’s the movie, really."

Paramount's marketing campaign leans heavily into nostalgia for the eccentric, heavily stylized characters that defined Depp's peak commercial years.

The official trailer opens with visual callbacks to Captain Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands, and the Mad Hatter before declaring, "The master of misfits returns," followed by Depp saying, "It’s good to be back."

Robert Mitchell, director of theatrical insights at Gower Street Analytics, told The Guardian that the film will serve as a bellwether for Depp’s current bankability. Mitchell noted that Depp has historically proven most lucrative when playing larger-than-life, almost grotesque characters akin to his 1990s collaborations with Tim Burton, and Paramount's campaign is intentionally presenting him in that familiar mode rather than simply as himself.

Financially, the studio has kept the stakes relatively contained. According to IndieWire, the production budget for Ebenezer netted out at approximately $38 million. That figure provides a much lower threshold for theatrical profitability than the massive tentpoles Depp headlined in the 2000s and 2010s.

The Road Back to Mainstream Hollywood

Depp’s departure from major studio projects began after his ex-wife, Amber Heard, alleged in 2016 divorce filings that he had been physically abusive, claims Depp denied.

In 2020, Depp lost a U.K. libel lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun after a judge ruled that the newspaper's description of him as a "wife beater" was substantially true. Shortly after that ruling, Warner Bros. asked Depp to step down from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, with Mads Mikkelsen replacing him for the third installment.

Two years later, a U.S. jury in a televised defamation trial found that Heard had defamed Depp in a Washington Post op-ed, awarding him $10.35 million in damages while awarding Heard $2 million on a counterclaim after finding one of Depp’s lawyers had defamed her. The pair settled their respective appeals in 2022.

In the interim, Depp worked on smaller independent and international features, such as Minamata—which grossed less than $1 million globally—and the French historical drama Jeanne du Barry, which opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival amid protests.

A solid performance from Ebenezer could accelerate a broader Hollywood return that is already taking shape. Depp is scheduled to appear in the 2027 release Day Drinker, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer has publicly stated he is in discussions with the actor regarding a potential sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film.

Early Test Scores and What Expecting Audiences Should Know

How have early audiences reacted to Ebenezer?

While the invite-only New York screening did not yield formal public reviews, earlier testing offered some encouraging signs for the studio. Citing a report from Puck, The Guardian noted that an August 2026 test screening in New Jersey earned the film an overall score of 80 out of 100, while Depp’s performance specifically scored an 86, with women over the age of 35 responding particularly positively.

However, industry analysts caution that test-screening metrics represent a limited sample and do not guarantee wider box office success.

When will official critic reviews be available?

According to The Guardian and IndieWire, the official critic review embargo for Ebenezer is set to lift on November 12, 2026—just hours before the first public theatrical screenings begin. While The Guardian assessed the late embargo as a sign that the studio may have limited confidence in favorable critical reception, Paramount has not commented on the timing, and tickets remain on sale for the nationwide opening on November 13.

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