Johnny Depp Just Dropped His Darkest Trailer Yet as Scrooge, and It Is His First Hollywood Movie in 8 Years
Johnny Depp Just Dropped His Darkest Trailer Yet as Scrooge, and It Is His First Hollywood Movie in 8 Years
Johnny Depp is back in a way fans have not seen in nearly a decade, and he chose the grumpiest man in Christmas history to do it. Paramount Pictures has released a brand new trailer for Ebenezer, the dark reimagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and it confirms what Hollywood has been whispering for months: Depp’s return to major studio filmmaking is real, and it is spectacularly weird.
The 63 year old actor has not led a major Hollywood studio release since 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Eight years is an eternity in Hollywood time. Now he is unrecognizable beneath gray sideburns, a heavy Victorian coat, and one of the most abrasive attitudes ever put on screen.
The trailer looks like a gothic horror film, and that is the point
The new footage leans hard into the horror roots of director Ti West, the filmmaker behind the X trilogy, including Pearl and MaXXXine. This is not your grandparents’ Christmas Carol. The trailer shows Depp’s Scrooge being tormented by genuinely terrifying spectral apparitions, lashing out at anyone who crosses his path, and in one harrowing sequence, being buried alive in the snow.
There is also a moment fans are already clipping and sharing everywhere: the famously miserable miser pelting innocent bystanders with snowballs on a snow covered Victorian street. It is petty, it is funny, and it is completely in character.
West, who has previously described classic adaptations of A Christmas Carol as some of his earliest introductions to the horror genre, told Entertainment Weekly he is not trying to reinvent the wheel. “I love the book, so I’m really not trying to do a spin on the story that is not faithful to the story or is some sort of meta tweak on it,” he said. “It is genuine. It has its own perspective, and it has its own places where it deviates a little bit.”
What the director says about Depp’s performance
West has nothing but praise for his leading man. “He has a way of hitting all of the classic Scrooge moments that make him an unlikable guy, but there’s a certain sense of humor and charm to it as well,” the director explained to Entertainment Weekly. That balance between cruelty and charm has always been Depp’s signature, from Captain Jack Sparrow to Willy Wonka, and it may be exactly what this version of Scrooge needs.
A cast stacked with British heavyweights
One of the biggest surprises of the Ebenezer cast is its depth. Sir Ian McKellen, 87, appears as the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s deceased business partner, delivering the chilling warning: “You will be haunted by three spirits.” The three spirits themselves are played by Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Tramell Tillman, the Severance breakout, as the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Rounding out the ensemble are Rupert Grint as the long suffering Bob Cratchit, Sam Claflin as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, Daisy Ridley as Fred’s wife, Arthur Conti as young Ebenezer Scrooge, and Ellie Bamber as Belle, Scrooge’s lost love. It is a lineup that signals serious ambitions, not a quick cash in on a beloved classic.
The official tease: “The name you know, the story you don’t”
That tagline tells you everything about Paramount’s approach. The story beats are the ones audiences have loved for more than 180 years, but the tone is darker, stranger, and far more unsettling than the usual holiday fare. In a Christmas movie season crowded with feel good family films, a horror tinged Scrooge might be the most distinctive ticket of the year.
Depp’s long road back to Hollywood
Depp’s absence from big studio releases followed his widely publicized 2022 defamation trial. In the years since, he has worked mostly in international productions, including the French historical drama Jeanne du Barry, which opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, while also stepping behind the camera to direct Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness.
But Ebenezer has clearly been something special for him. A source told People the film “felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for Depp. “He’s back in a character role, which he loves. He really comes to life when he’s in those characters, they’re in his DNA,” the source said, adding that Depp feels like “he’s never really gone away,” despite his absence from Hollywood movies in recent years.
The signs of his enthusiasm have been public. Back in July, Depp shocked fans by appearing in full Scrooge makeup at San Diego Comic-Con, crashing a pop-up activation for the film in the summer heat and staying completely in character. When the first look footage arrived, his Scrooge turned to the camera and delivered a line that instantly went viral: “It’s good to be back.”
When can you watch it?
Ebenezer arrives in theaters on November 13, 2026, positioning it as one of the biggest pre-holiday releases of the year. And for fans already hungry for more, Depp will follow it up with Lionsgate’s Day Drinker in March 2027, a sign that his studio comeback is not a one off.
Between a horror visionary director, a legendary supporting cast, and a star who looks genuinely reborn in the trailer, Ebenezer has quietly become one of the most intriguing releases of the year. Eight years away from Hollywood only made the return sweeter. As Scrooge himself might say after three ghosts have finished with him: the man has changed.
If you missed the weekend’s biggest Hollywood stories, check out how Anne Hathaway’s Verity crushed Tom Cruise’s Digger at the box office, how Avengers: Doomsday hijacked Comic-Con Malaga, and the intimate details of Emma Roberts’ secret wedding photos that the internet cannot stop talking about.
Sources: People, Entertainment Weekly.
