As both LL Cool J and Johnny Depp would say, "Don't call it a comeback." The Pirates of the Caribbean vet is still set up for a major theatrical return, whichever way you want to word it. And while it looked for a while there like his director-hyped Scrooge performance in Ebenezer might be the most exciting, the first look at Day Drinker has completely turned my expectations around. This is Depp in what could be his most intimidating, and dare I say, scariest role yet.
Not because he's a masked killer in a slasher movie, and he's not a face-morphing Batman villain in the DCU. Rather, he's a bearded weirdo with an accent who just oozes menace and mystery. Which, I'll admit, isn't that far off from some of his other roles. (And his Ebenezer Scrooge is definitely a odder sight to behold.) But in this case, he's not making antagonists' lives more difficult while in the quick-witted protagonist role. Here, he's the one playing the palpable threat. But who's the one in the most danger here?
Even the first official poster from Lionsgate gives Day Drinker all kinds of threatening vibes. To the point where I'm surprised that dog's sharp-toothed maw doesn't get any kind of billing under the actors' names.
And here I thought Seth Meyers taught us day drinking is fun and popular.
In Day Drinker, Outer Banks vet Madelyn Cline plays a bartender on a private yacht who runs afoul of Johnny Depp's mysterious and talkative guest. Enter Penélope Cruz as a sultry and sinister criminal with surprising connections to other characters. It seems like everyone will have had something to do with a tragedy that killed the guy's family, and he's out for retribution and then some. His ominous voiceover lays things pretty well:
My story, perhaps it's a tale of revenge. Or perhaps something worse. What if all this is a ghost story? Or maybe I'm just another day drinker.
Call me crazy, but I don't think it's that last one he says. It's probably the other two.
We've also got some ghoulish visuals mixed in with absolutely gorgeous exterior shots from and on the waters. But there's nothing so calming or serene about the smile on Depp's face as his character has a screwdriver impaled through his hand. Yikes.
The movie is being billed as a horror, which I am very excited for, given Depp's past work in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Sleepy Hollow and From Hell. It's directed by Marc Webb as a surprising palate-cleaning follow-up to the live-action Snow White movie, from a script written by Zach Dean, who wrote 2025's The Gorge and Looking Through Water.
Fans will be able to see Depp's holiday fare first, as Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol will hit the 2026 movie schedule in November, while Day Drinker is currently set as a 2027 theatrical release, and it'll bring Depp's freaky new character to audiences on March 26, 2027.
