Johnny Depp is returning to major studio filmmaking for a fraction of his former price.
The 63-year-old actor collected a $5 million salary for “Ebenezer,” the upcoming Christmas Carol retelling in which he plays the iconic miser, reports said Tuesday. That figure represents less than a sixth of what he earned for his last studio project six years ago.
Depp, 63, pocketed $16 million for 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” despite shooting only a single scene. Warner Bros. Severed ties with him after he lost a U.K. Libel case against The Sun, which had labeled him “a wife-beater.”
His most lucrative payday remains the 2017 “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel, where backend deals reportedly pushed his total haul to $90 million. The “Edward Scissorhands” star also famously collected roughly $50 million for minimal screen time in 2010’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
Those outsized checks landed him on Forbes’ most-overpaid-actor list in both 2015 and 2016. The magazine calculated that “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” the 2016 follow-up, generated just $2.80 at the box office for every dollar he was paid.
Depp himself acknowledged the absurdity long before the pay cuts. In a 2011 Vanity Fair interview, he defended grabbing the massive “Pirates” payouts for the sake of his family with ex Vanessa Paradis.
“Basically, if they’re going to pay me the stupid money right now, I’m going to take it,” he told the magazine.
“I have to. I mean, it’s not for me. Do you know what I mean?” he continued. “At this point, it’s for my kids. It’s ridiculous, yeah, yeah. But ultimately is it for me? No. No. It’s for the kids.”
The “Ebenezer” gig marks Depp’s first major film since his 2022 defamation victory against ex-wife Amber Heard. The “Aquaman” actress, 39, had implied in a 2018 the outlet op-ed that he was abusive during their 2015-2017 marriage; a Virginia jury awarded him $1 million in damages.
His return to Scrooge comes as franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer works to lure him back to the “Pirates” world. Bruckheimer said at D23 in August that active negotiations were underway.
“We’re talking with Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done,” he said.
Multiple sources indicated any return would be limited. The sixth installment is expected to center on Margot Robbie’s protagonist, with Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow relegated to supporting status.
The Dickens adaptation assembles a sprawling ensemble around Depp’s lead. Rupert Grint, Daisy Ridley, Ian McKellen and Sam Claflin round out the cast for director Marc Foster’s version.
Depp’s children with Paradis — daughter Lily-Rose, 27, and son Jack, 24 — were the stated beneficiaries of his earlier blockbuster windfalls. Whether the reduced “Ebenezer” rate signals a recalibrated career phase or simply reflects the project’s scale remains unaddressed in reporting.
The holiday release lands in theaters November 13.
