Paramount Unveils Johnny Depp’s First Hollywood Film in 8 Years as Comeback Bet
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 27
Paramount Unveils Johnny Depp’s First Hollywood Film in 8 Years as Comeback Bet
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 27
Summary
Paramount released a teaser for “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol,” putting Johnny Depp at the center of its Thanksgiving holiday film slate and framing the role as his return to major studio filmmaking.
The film marks Depp’s first Hollywood movie in nearly eight years, after Warner Bros. dropped him from “Fantastic Beasts” and Disney halted talks on a sixth “Pirates of the Caribbean” installment.
Paramount’s trailer leans into the comeback narrative directly: “The master of misfits returns,” it says before Depp’s Scrooge tells viewers, “It’s good to be back.”
The studio is testing whether audiences will re-embrace Depp a decade after abuse allegations he denied and four years after the 2022 defamation trial that revived his public profile.
That gamble carries box-office uncertainty, with younger viewers knowing Depp as much from the TikTok-fueled trial as from his earlier blockbuster roles.