Overview
- Variety, via a wire report published Thursday, said Johnny Depp received an upfront fee of about $5 million to play Ebenezer Scrooge.
- Ebenezer is a Charles Dickens adaptation distributed by Paramount that marks Depp’s first major studio film in eight years and features heavy prosthetics for his Scrooge performance.
- The production reportedly cost about $38 million to make and faces roughly $50 million in marketing, which makes a projected opening near $20 million domestic and $20 million international commercially pivotal.
- The $5 million figure is a steep drop from Depp’s past paydays—his highest reported payday was about $90 million for a Pirates film—and his contract details on backend bonuses remain unclear.
- Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has confirmed talks about bringing Depp back to Pirates of the Caribbean, and industry observers say Ebenezer’s box-office and critical performance will shape studios’ willingness to rehire him.