CinemaCon got a big “Bah! Humbug!” on Thursday when Paramount presented the audience with the footage of Ti West’s “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol.”
The footage starts with Johnny Depp’s Ebenezer Scrooge walking through town. He says, “Bah! Humbug!” prompting the “Christmas a humbug?” line from his nephew, Fred (played by Sam Claflin).
Ian McKellen arrives as the ghost of Jacob Marley. He is very pale. Ebenezer is then approached by Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, who is white, bald and wearing an apparent wedding dress.
The Ghost of Christmas Future is tall and haunting. Tramell Tillman’s Ghost of Christmas Present is deathly ill with an exposed ribcage. Creatures jump from his chest.
The footage has some of the humor seen in Depp’s other characters, but the actual spirits are dark and frightening. Much of the dialogue is ripped from the Charles Dickens book.
Johnny Depp stars in the adaptation of Charles Dickens’ iconic holiday story, playing the titular Scrooge who goes on a life-changing journey one Christmas Eve with a series of temporal spirits. Andrea Riseborough plays the Ghost of Christmas Past, while Tramell Tillman plays the Ghost of Christmas Present. The cast also includes Ian McKellen (Jacob Marley), Rupert Grint (Bob Cratchit), Sam Claflin (Fred) and Daisy Ridley.
Nathaniel Halpern wrote “Ebenezer,” directed by the voice behind the “X” trilogy. The film is one of two large-scale “Christmas Carol” adaptations currently in development. The other will star Willem Dafoe and be helmed by Robert Eggers, the “Nosferatu” filmmaker who brought footage of his new film “Werwulf” to CinemaCon last night.
The footage came near the end of the Paramount panel, which also included trailers for “Street Fighter,” “Mr. Irrelevant,” “Scary Movie,” the final “Jackass” film, “Children of Blood and Bone” and more.
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