Johnny Depp Is Teaming Up With A Great Horror Director For A Christmas Carol, But The Surprises Don't Stop There

Since Johnny Depp’s victory in the highly-publicized defamation lawsuit with ex-wife Amber Heard back in 2022, we’ve been curious if the actor would be getting a career comeback. He’s since starred in the French film Jeanne du Barry, has a movie with Penélope Cruz on the way, and has just signed on to his highest profile movie post-trial yet. Depp is allegedly in “final negotiations” to star in a movie called Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol for Paramount Pictures. The project comes from a celebrated filmmaker and seems to directly be competing with another one like it.

Johnny Depp Is Starring In An Upcoming Version Of A Christmas Carol

As Deadline reports, Johnny Depp is getting ready to work with filmmaker Ti West on Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, who famously made the critically-acclaimed X trilogy with Mia Goth. Depp will be joined by Oscar-nominated actress Andrea Riseborough, and the movie has already earned a place on the 2026 movie release calendar for November 13, 2026. The latest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic comes from a script by Legion and Tales From The Loop writer Nathaniel Halpern.

While it wasn’t necessarily confirmed in the report, we of course expect Depp to play Ebenezer Scrooge. Knowing some of the actor’s choices in the past, this is right up his alley. And since Ti West has grown a following with his work in the horror space, we’re certainly curious about what his version of the holiday staple will look like.

But, There’s Already A Similar Project In The Works With Willem Dafoe

This brings me to why this is such a surprising project, outside of it being Johnny Depp's biggest one in years. Back in June, it was actually announced that Nosferatu director Robert Eggers was making his own version of A Christmas Carol with Willem Dafoe as Scrooge. This one doesn’t have a release date yet, but Paramount seems to be competitively beating this film from Warner Bros. to the punch by turning around with a date that could very well have Eggers being haunted by Christmas’s future.

Surely if Johnny Depp and Ti West’s A Christmas Carol take comes out before Eggers’ version, people will be comparing it to Eggers version whenever it comes out. Also, Eggers’ current priority is a movie called Werwulf, which is also with Dafoe, along with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp (who is Depp’s daughter). Werwulf is currently in production and set for a Christmas Day 2026 release.

Things like this happen all the time in Hollywood. Just look at how there’s two Frankenstein-related movies coming out within months of each other between Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix version and The Bride! helmed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. We’ll keep our eyes peeled as we wait for more information of these A Christmas Carol movies here on CinemaBlend.