Ebenezer Reviews: Johnny Depp’s Scrooge Splits Critics 50-50 as Audiences Go Far Warmer

Johnny Depp’s comeback has met its first verdict — and the critics cannot agree on it. Ebenezer, Ti West’s gothic take on A Christmas Carol, which opened in theatres on November 13, debuted on Rotten Tomatoes at 51 per cent from 59 reviews, according to MovieWeb, and 50 per cent from 70 reviews, per Entertainment Weekly. At one count, of 69 reviews, 35 were fresh and 34 were rotten — about as even a split as a film can get. On Metacritic, the film scored 47 out of 100. The film is Depp’s first major studio film in eight years.

Ebenezer — by the numbers: Rotten Tomatoes 51% from 59 reviews (MovieWeb) / 50% from 70 reviews (Entertainment Weekly); Metacritic 47/100; split 35 fresh / 34 rotten of 69 counted (Cosmic Book News); early audience score 90% with four stars on PostTrak (early reports); reported net budget $38 million; opening-weekend tracking $20–23 million.

The praise and the pans focus on the same thing: Depp himself. MovieWeb’s Rob Sperduto gave the film four out of five stars, calling it Depp’s “best showcase in years” and “a real case for a new Christmas classic”. The Daily Telegraph’s Robbie Collin agreed at four out of five. On the other side, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich gave it a C+, the Boston Globe’s Odie Henderson one out of four stars — calling Depp “easily the worst Scrooge I’ve ever seen” — and Consequence a D+. Vulture scored it fresh, arguing Depp is “the worst part of Ebenezer” but the movie itself is pretty good.

Audiences, by contrast, were far warmer in early reactions. Early reports put the Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 90 per cent, with four stars on PostTrak — a 40-point gap that says more about the film’s actual appeal than either number alone. That matters commercially: on a reported $38 million net budget and opening-weekend tracking of $20–23 million, Ebenezer does not need critics to love it — it needs families and Depp fans to turn up through Thanksgiving.

Here is the Filmverse take: a 50-50 split is the most honest possible review of a film like this, because Ebenezer is two films arguing with each other — an atmospheric ghost story and a star vehicle built around one of the most divisive actors alive. The critics who hate it mostly hate Depp; the critics who love it mostly love the atmosphere around him. For Depp, whose next Hollywood film, Day Drinker with Penélope Cruz, is already lined up, the question was never whether critics would forgive him — it was whether audiences would show up. On the first evidence, they are. Our opening-day report: https://filmverse.in/johnny-depp-ebenezer-opens-today-box-office-tracking-20-million/

Watch the official trailer 2 below:

Ebenezer, directed by Ti West and co-starring Ian McKellen, Rupert Grint, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley and Andrea Riseborough, is in theatres now.

Source: MovieWeb, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmic Book News, CBR and The Hollywood Reporter via early reports. All box-office figures are trade estimates.

Team Filmverse

Filmverse is an independent entertainment news desk covering Bollywood and Indian cinema — news, trailers, reviews and box office, published daily from Mumbai.