An international co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom, Ebenezer premiered in New York City on November 1, 2026, and was released in the United Kingdom and United States by Paramount Pictures on November 13, 2026. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
On Christmas Eve 1836, in a small English village, Ebenezer Scrooge works with his business partner, Jacob Marley, and their clerk, Bob Cratchit. Marley suddenly collapses dead, with only Scrooge attending his funeral. He leaves with Marley’s pocket watch.
Stave 1: Marley's Ghost
Seven years later, Scrooge continues to work with Bob serving under him. Scrooge is visited by his nephew Fred, who invites him to dine with him and his wife Clara. He refuses. Two men collecting for charity come to ask Scrooge for donations, but he turns them away.
At the end of the day, Bob asks Scrooge if he can take Christmas off. Scrooge begrudgingly allows it, but only if Bob arrives early the next day. When Scrooge walks home, he sees his door knocker has taken the form of Marley's face.
As Scrooge prepares for bed, he hears the sound of chains dragging. He becomes frightened as he is met by the ghost of Marley, who warns Scrooge that three spirits are to visit him that night to show him how wrong he has lived his life. Marley also tells Scrooge that if he does not listen, he will be doomed to live his afterlife as Marley has.
Stave 2: The First of the Three Spirits
Soon after, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past. She brings Scrooge outside his old school, where he is shown several memories: one of him with his late sister Fan, one of him enjoying a party, and one where he let Belle, a woman he was in love with, go. Scrooge then begs the Ghost of Christmas Past to send him back home.
Stave 3: The Second of the Three Spirits
Scrooge returns to his home, but he walks out into the streets to find it filled with ghosts. He enters a pub and finds the Ghost of Christmas Present, who brings Scrooge to look outside the Cratchit house, which Bob shares with his wife Emily and their children, with the youngest, Tiny Tim, having a condition with his leg. After seeing Bob trying to fix Tiny Tim's crutch, Scrooge asks if the boy will heal. The Ghost of Christmas Present tells him that Tiny Tim will die without further help.
Scrooge is then brought to Fred's home at the feast that he turned down, then sees Belle working at a debtors' prison feeding the needy. The Ghost of Christmas Present reveals two children dwelling in his ribcage, Ignorance and Want, both born from man. Ignorance and Want break out and chase Scrooge.
Stave 4: The Last of the Spirits
Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come, who shows him the future in which he is gone, and a few of the townsfolk have gone to pawn stolen goods from his house. Scrooge is then brought to his workplace, where a man, Topper, edits Scrooge's will so that he gets half of the money. When Scrooge asks about the Cratchit family, he is brought back to the debtors' prison, where the Cratchits now live and Tiny Tim is dead.
Scrooge is then taken to the cemetery where he is buried. He demands the ghost show his face, and he removes his hood to show Scrooge's dead face.
Stave 5: The End of It
Back in his home, Scrooge decides to make amends. He writes a note and gives it to Belle's husband, who reads it to her. Scrooge then goes to Fred's house, apologizing to him and Clara and joining them for lunch. The next day, Scrooge tells Bob that he knows about Tiny Tim's condition, and that he has arranged for the boy to be seen by a doctor. Scrooge then announces that he is promoting Bob and renaming the business to "Scrooge and Cratchit." Bob accepts Scrooge's offer. After he leaves, Scrooge sees a beggar in the street. He gives the man Marley's pocket watch and invites him inside for some tea.
Cast
Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge, a wealthy and misanthropic businessman who hates Christmas
Arthur Conti as young Ebenezer
Depp also played the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's employee
Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past
Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present
Robert Strange as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Sam Claflin as Fred, Scrooge's nephew
Daisy Ridley as Clara, Fred's wife
Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, Scrooge's deceased business partner
Ellie Bamber as Belle
Nicholas Day as a minister
Charlie Murphy as Emily Cratchit, Bob's wife
Henry Lloyd-Hughes as Topper
Freddie Lee-Grey as Tiny Tim, Bob's son
Christopher Fairbank as Old Joe, a fence
Michael Culkin as Drood
Rose Williams as Molly
Production
Development and casting
In October 2025, Paramount Pictures announced a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with West directing from a screenplay by Halpern. Depp was cast as Scrooge, while Riseborough joined in an initially undisclosed role. Emma Watts was attached to produce through Wattsco. The film was later credited as a Wattsco and IN.2 Film production, presented by Paramount in association with Domain Entertainment. West, David Reid, Adam Bohling, Stephen Deuters, Jason Forman, Pete Chiappetta, Anthony Tittanegro, and Andrew Lary serve as executive producers.
In November 2025, Tillman and McKellen joined the cast. McKellen later confirmed he played Marley and that Tillman portrayed the Ghost of Christmas Present; he said his own work on the production lasted six days. In December, Grint, Ridley, Claflin, Murphy, Conti, and Bamber were added to the ensemble. The July 2026 trailer and accompanying publicity identified Grint as Bob Cratchit, Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Ridley as Emily Cratchit, Claflin as Fred, Conti as young Scrooge, and Bamber as Belle.
Checco Varese served as the film's director of photography.
Filming
Principal photography began in January 2026, with London and Dublin listed as production locations. In February, Screen Daily reported that production was underway in the United Kingdom, with Watts producing, and filming taking place in London. Depp and Riseborough were photographed filming together in London during the early part of the shoot.
Location filming also took place at The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent. Creative England's Filming in England office reported that the production used the 80-acre historic site as well as additional English locations. The Dockyard has frequently been used to represent historical streets and waterfronts in film and television.
Marketing
Depp presented the first footage from the new film during Paramount's CinemaCon presentation on April 16, 2026. West introduced the footage through a recorded message before Depp appeared onstage. Paramount described the footage as showing a dramatic and stylized reimagining of the Dickens story, while reports from the convention emphasized Depp's physical transformation into Scrooge and the combination of supernatural horror imagery and humor. The film reportedly has a $50 million marketing budget.
The first teaser poster was released on July 23, 2026, followed later that day by the official trailer. Depp promoted the film at San Diego Comic-Con through a surprise appearance in full Scrooge costume. He first interacted with fans at a snow-covered "Scrooge and Marley" installation in the Gaslamp Quarter and later interrupted a Hall H directors' panel to introduce the trailer in character. The trailer presented the film as Depp's return to major studio filmmaking, as well as the first official look at McKellen as Marley, Grint as Cratchit, Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Ridley as Emily Cratchit, and Claflin as Fred.
Writing for The Guardian, Stuart Heritage noted that comments responding to Depp's return were largely approving, but criticized the campaign's framing of the new film as his Hollywood comeback.
Release
Ebenezer premiered at the Whitby Hotel in New York City on November 1, 2026, and was released in France on November 11, in Australia and Brazil on November 12, followed by the United Kingdom and United States on November 13, positioning the film as a wide theatrical release during the holiday season.
Reception
Box office
The film made $6.7 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 121 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Decking its halls with evocative production design while Johnny Depp is filled with the 'bah humbug!' spirit, Ebenezer doesn't scrooge Dickens' classic tale up but plays things too safe to stand out amongst its long line of remakes." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 46 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average 4.5 out of five stars, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a 'C-' rating, calling Depp's performance "insufferable." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle and David Crow of Den of Geek criticized the film's reversal of Dickens' social justice themes, particularly its narrative justification of Scrooge's disdain for the poor and its portrayal of the charitable gentlemen whom Scrooge rebuffs as fraudulent con artists. Peter Bradshaw, in a review for The Guardian, gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, calling it a "perfectly serviceable, faithful adaptation... as Scrooge himself, Depp is pretty good."
Brandon Wu of The New York Times called the film bland and said of Depp's performance, "at his worst, Depp appears as if he is in a Scrooge costume in a Christmas-season ad campaign for Verizon. At his best, he is competent." Matt Konopka of Dread Central asked "who even asked for this?" and said the film felt empty and was "content to lazily copy and paste." Nikki Baughan of ScreenDaily concluded that the film "ends up languishing somewhere in the mediocre middle." Javier Ocaña of El País found a lack of depth and brilliance in West's contribution to Dickens' story.
See also
Adaptations of A Christmas Carol
External links
Official website
Ebenezer at IMDb
Ebenezer at Box Office Mojo
Ebenezer at Rotten Tomatoes
