The Ebenezer movie 2026 release date is now just days away, and it brings one of the most talked-about comebacks of the year with it. Johnny Depp returns to a major Hollywood studio film as Ebenezer Scrooge, in a dark, gothic retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that looks nothing like the cosy versions we grew up with. The Ebenezer movie 2026 opens in theatres in the United States and the United Kingdom on Friday, 13 November 2026, and everything about it, from the director to the cast to the Friday-the-13th opening, feels deliberately chosen.
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures — Official Trailer/Poster via YouTube
This is not a film that hides what it is. Ti West, the horror filmmaker behind X, Pearl and MaXXXine, directs from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern, and the studio’s own tagline says it plainly: “The name you know, the story you don’t.” The Ebenezer movie 2026 keeps Dickens’ story at its centre and then turns the lights down. The ghosts are frightening, the comedy is dark, and Scrooge himself is meaner, funnier and more persuasive than the version most adaptations give us.
Ebenezer movie 2026 release date, runtime and rating
The headline facts are simple. The Ebenezer movie 2026 premiered in New York City on 1 November 2026, and Paramount Pictures releases it in theatres in the United States and the United Kingdom on Friday, 13 November 2026. Australia gets the film a day earlier, on 12 November, and Bollywood Hungama has reported an India cinema release on 27 November 2026, though readers should check local listings closer to the date, since international rollouts can shift.
The film is rated PG-13 for frightening material and runs for approximately 116 minutes, just under two hours. It has a reported budget of around $38 million, and it was shot in London and at the Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent. Emma Watts produces for Paramount Pictures, in association with Domain Entertainment, with Wattsco and IN.2 Films also credited. No streaming or OTT date has been announced yet, and no OTT platform has been named. The Ebenezer movie 2026 is a theatrical release first, and any streaming date will come after its cinema run.
Johnny Depp’s return as Scrooge
The biggest reason people are talking about the Ebenezer movie 2026 is the man at its centre. Johnny Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge in old-age makeup, and it is his first major studio film since Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018. That eight-year gap is part of the story here. Depp committed to the role in public before the film even had a teaser, appearing at San Diego Comic-Con in full Scrooge costume, in character, before the first teaser arrived on 23 July 2026.
What he does with the part is the film’s biggest swing. West has said he wanted to give Scrooge logic and a good argument, so that when the miser makes his case for keeping his money and shutting out Christmas, he is not simply wrong. The Ebenezer movie 2026 lets its Scrooge be funny and frightening in the same scene, and the trailer shows a man who looks properly haunted rather than simply grumpy. For Depp, it is a role that leans on everything he does best: strange, watchable, and just a little dangerous.
A cast built from British screen royalty
Around Depp, the Ebenezer movie 2026 assembles a cast that reads like a roll call of beloved British screen talent, with a few younger faces mixed in. Ian McKellen plays Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s former business partner, whose ghostly visit sets the whole story in motion. McKellen reportedly shot the part in just six days, and West has confirmed the film also includes a scene with Marley alive, something Dickens never wrote.
The three spirits are played by Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman, fresh from his Emmy-winning turn in Severance, as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Robert Strange as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The human heart of the story sits with the Cratchits: Rupert Grint plays Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s underpaid clerk, and Daisy Ridley plays Emily Cratchit. Sam Claflin plays Fred, Scrooge’s warm-hearted nephew, Ellie Bamber plays Belle, Scrooge’s former fiancee, and Arthur Conti plays the young Ebenezer. Charlie Murphy and Henry Lloyd-Hughes round out the ensemble in supporting roles.
What Ti West changes about Dickens
Hiring Ti West was always going to change the temperature of this material, and the Ebenezer movie 2026 wears that change openly. His horror films are slow, patient and deeply atmospheric, and this film carries that same patience into Dickens’ London: long, quiet shots, rooms that feel too dark, fog and snow and candlelight, and a joke that lands and then curdles. Rather than rushing through the plot points, West lets dread build scene by scene, until the ghosts feel earned rather than decorative.
The changes go beyond the mood. The Ebenezer movie 2026 gives Scrooge’s past more room than most versions do, with a younger Ebenezer and a character billed as Scrooge’s father, and the trailer shows a bed sequence in which Scrooge is dragged down through his own mattress, and a visit to his own grave that turns into a more physical scare. The spirits get solid, physical forms rather than soft, dreamlike ones. At the same time, the film keeps the bones of the novella intact: Marley’s warning, the three visits on Christmas Eve, and a miser forced to face the life he has lived, the life he is living, and the life waiting for him if nothing changes.
5 exciting details to know before 13 November
First, the date itself is part of the joke. The Ebenezer movie 2026 opens on Friday the 13th, a deliberately spooky slot for a ghost story, just before Thanksgiving and weeks ahead of Christmas, which gives it room to breathe before the holiday rush.
Second, the music comes from Tyler Bates, who scored all three of West’s X films, so the sound of this Christmas Carol will carry the same uneasy pulse as the director’s horror work.
Third, the film is not a horror movie in the usual sense. It is rated PG-13, the trailer leans as hard on dark comedy as on gothic gloom, and West’s big idea is moral grey area rather than jump scares.
Fourth, the casting does real storytelling work. Seeing Grint, so many people’s Ron Weasley, as the exhausted clerk immediately tells you where the film’s heart sits, while McKellen’s Marley gives the ghost story its weight.
Fifth, the scale is intimate on purpose. With a reported budget of around $38 million, the Ebenezer movie 2026 is a mid-budget studio film built on atmosphere and performance rather than spectacle, which is exactly the kind of film that can surprise people in a crowded November.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Ebenezer movie 2026 release?
The Ebenezer movie 2026 releases in theatres in the United States and the United Kingdom on Friday, 13 November 2026. It premiered in New York City on 1 November 2026, and Australia follows on 12 November.
Who plays Scrooge in Ebenezer?
Johnny Depp plays Ebenezer Scrooge. Ian McKellen plays Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint plays Bob Cratchit, Daisy Ridley plays Emily Cratchit, and Andrea Riseborough and Tramell Tillman play the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present.
Who directed Ebenezer?
Ti West directed the Ebenezer movie 2026, from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern. West is known for the horror films X, Pearl and MaXXXine.
Is Ebenezer based on A Christmas Carol?
Yes. The Ebenezer movie 2026 is a dark, gothic reimagining of Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, with the tagline “The name you know, the story you don’t.”
What is the runtime and rating of Ebenezer?
Ebenezer runs for approximately 116 minutes and is rated PG-13 for frightening material.
Is there an OTT release date for Ebenezer?
No. No streaming date or OTT platform has been announced yet. The Ebenezer movie 2026 is releasing in theatres first.
Where can I watch the Ebenezer trailer?
Watch the official Trailer 2 from Paramount Pictures below. See also our Ebenezer trailer post.
The Ebenezer movie 2026 works on paper because it trusts the ghost story at the centre of Dickens’ tale and then lets a horror director tell it properly. Depp looks properly haunted, the spirits look properly frightening, and the warmth of the Cratchit family gives the scares something to protect. If the full film keeps that balance, this could be the Christmas Carol people talk about long after the holidays are over. Check local listings for your city’s release date, and watch the trailer again with the lights low. It plays even better that way.
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures — Official Trailer/Poster via YouTube
