Depp's Scrooge Film Ebenezer Opens Strong on Friday

Johnny Depp's new take on Scrooge is off to a strong start at the box office. Ebenezer took in $6.7 million on opening day, Friday, 13 November, according to Variety.

The film is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, with Depp playing the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. Ti West directed it. Paramount spent $38 million to produce it, a figure known in the industry as the production budget, meaning the cost of making the film before any advertising.

For the weekend, Variety projects Ebenezer will earn $18 million to $20 million from 3,535 theatres in North America, the United States and Canada. Overseas, the film is expected to bring in another $20 million, for a global total of around $38 million to $40 million. Those are forecasts, not final totals.

Audiences gave the film an A- on CinemaScore, the grade cinemas collect from exit polls as people leave the screening. The scale runs from A+ down to F.

Sony's Ghost Soldier earned $1.5 million from 2,558 locations on Friday. Variety expects it to make $4.9 million over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday weekend, and $8 million over its first five days in cinemas.

How to Rob a Bank, starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz and Pete Davidson and directed by David Leitch, took in $2.2 million from 2,810 theatres on Friday. It is on track for an opening of $4.75 million. Its CinemaScore grade was B-.

Two other films were close behind. The Cat in the Hat brought in $2.2 million on Friday and is projected to reach $10 million by Sunday. Godzilla Minus Zero earned $2.1 million on Friday and is projected to collect $7.5 million in its second weekend in cinemas.