Ebenezer Opens Nov. 13 With Johnny Depp and a Scrooge Venmo Account

By Grace Kim

Paramount Pictures’ Ebenezer opens in theaters on Nov. 13, with Johnny Depp starring as Ebenezer Scrooge. Variety reported that Ti West directs the adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

Paramount’s promotional team created a Venmo account (an online payment profile) under Scrooge’s name before the film’s release. The official film account announced it on X: “Ebenezer Scrooge is now on @venmo. Think he’s feeling generous? 💰 Send a request: https://venmo.com/u/EBENEZERmovie”

The post paired the invitation with a video of people requesting various amounts of money and Scrooge making stingy payouts. Scrooge’s response never varied: he returned one penny.

When two Variety staffers tried to request money, Venmo displayed an error: “We’re sorry the transaction could not be completed. Please contact the person you’re trying to pay.” Variety reported that a source close to the promotion said the account had been working. The volume of requests had temporarily jammed the system, and a fix was underway.

What does the Venmo promotion change for audiences?

For moviegoers, it turns Scrooge from a literary figure into an online payment character. It also leaves a practical unanswered question: where does the money sent to him go? Variety could not determine the destination.

Variety reported that the account’s public feed (its visible record of incoming payments) showed a stream of payments. One benefactor wrote: “For cheers and joy! (And maybe a little luck please)”

Another wrote: “$ Retainer Fee — for the Ghost of Christmas Past to haunt my exes with a little bah humbug spirit.” Several others paid Scrooge to boost his Christmas spirit.

The film behind the account

Paramount’s official logline (a one-sentence plot summary) reads: “The name you know, the story you don’t.” Variety read the trailer as West, known for directing the horror trilogy X, emphasizing the darker side of Dickens’s story. According to Variety, the trailer shows Depp’s Scrooge haunted by frightening ghosts and buried alive.

Variety identified A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as the source and Nathaniel Halpern as the screenwriter. The reported cast besides Depp includes:

• Rupert Grint
• Andrea Riseborough
• Sam Claflin
• Daisy Ridley
• Arthur Conti
• Ellie Bamber
• Henry Lloyd-Hughes
• Charlie Murphy
• Tramell Tillman
• Ian McKellen

Depp’s return after the 2022 trial

Variety described Ebenezer as Depp’s return home to Hollywood for the holidays and his first major movie since his highly publicized 2022 trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Both accused the other of domestic abuse and defamation (false statements damaging to reputation) during their relationship.

Variety reported that the verdict ultimately awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages (compensation for harm) and $5 million in punitive damages (an additional penalty) from Heard. Heard received $2 million in compensatory damages. Depp’s last major Hollywood studio film was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018.

The unresolved destination of those payments is the promotion’s practical loose end before the Nov. 13 opening. Until a recipient is disclosed, the account pairs a one-penny response to requests with incoming money whose path the audience cannot verify.