Johnny Depp is a wildly accomplished character actor, and his best roles are etched into the pop culture landscape. Unfortunately, in recent years the actor became synonymous with his controversial relationship with Amber Heard, and their years-long legal battle. Depp is returning to Hollywood as the title role of Ti West's upcoming book to screen adaptation Ebenezer, and it turns out he took a huge pay cut when compared to other major film roles.
Ebenezer is the first major Hollywood gig for Depp since the defamation verdict was revealed, with the 63 year-old actor spending years across the pond. A recent report by Variety claims that Johnny Depp was paid a salary of $5 million. While that's a ton of money for us fans, it's a huge cut from the $16 million he was paid for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which he was removed from after he lost his libel case again The Sun.
Then there's the insane paydays that Depp had for his work on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (which are streaming with a Disney+ subscription). I mean, he reportedly made a whopping $90 million for Dead Men Tell No Tales, as he got a cut from backend profits. So by comparison, he's really taking a cut for his role in Ebenezer.
That being said, this could help set up Ti West's Christmas movie for success. Taking a small pay check likely saved Ebenezer a ton of money, and might make it easier for the project to make a profit when it hits theaters this month. The film's reported budget is a modest $38 million, and Johnny Depp's pay rate no doubt helped to keep that number low.
It remains to be seen if the project joins the ranks of the best Christmas movies, but the cast is helping to increase hype around the project. In addition to Depp playing Scrooge, we'll also see talents like Rupert Grint, Daisy Ridley, Sam Claflin, Tramell Tillman and Sir Ian McKellen. That's a ton of names, and I have to assume the budget wouldn't have been able to pay all those names if the Edward Scissorhands icon demanded more money to play Ebenezer Scrooge.
While Depp's first acting gig after the Amber Heard trial was in Jeanne Du Barry, that French film was a smaller production outside of the Hollywood landscape. Ebenezer will put him back in the industry in a major way, and it should be fascinating to see how it performs, and what projects he takes on next.
Ebenezer hits theaters November 13th as part of the 2026 movie release list. It's one of the first Christmas movies hitting this Holiday Season, so we'll have to see how many families go to theaters to get into the spirit.
