Johnny Depp is back at the top of the box office. Paramount’s Ebenezer took $6.7 million on Friday from 3,535 locations, putting the gothic retelling of A Christmas Carol on course for a $20 million domestic opening weekend, according to TheWrap.
The film gives Depp his first number one since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018. It knocked Godzilla Minus Zero off the top spot, and trade estimates put the worldwide opening at about $40 million.
Ti West directed the film, with Depp playing Ebenezer Scrooge in a darker take on the Charles Dickens story. TheWrap reports a production budget of $38 million and a marketing spend of about $50 million, so the opening weekend alone will not cover the outlay. The film’s Christmas setting gives Paramount hope it can hold screens through December.
Audiences liked it more than critics did. Ebenezer earned an A-minus CinemaScore from opening night crowds, while reviews landed in the middle, with Rotten Tomatoes scores reported between 49 and 53 percent.
The opening is modest by franchise standards, and close to the debuts of Depp’s earlier non-franchise films, Black Mass at $22.6 million and Public Enemies at $25.2 million. Full weekend figures arrive on Sunday.
Source: TheWrap
