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"Ebenezer", Johnny Depp's take on Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" in which he plays Scrooge, led Friday's box office with $6.7 million on opening day, and Variety projected $18 million to $20 million from 3,535 North American theaters for the weekend. Paramount, which spent a modest $38 million on the PG-13 film directed by Ti West, expects around $38 million to $40 million globally. Audiences gave it an "A-" CinemaScore. It is Depp's first major movie in eight years, following a period when Hollywood kept its distance after his 2020 libel case against The Sun and his subsequent defamation win against Amber Heard. "How to Rob a Bank", the Amazon MGM heist comedy starring Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Pete Davidson, took $2.2 million from 2,810 theaters on Friday and is pacing for just $4.75 million over the weekend. Variety noted that is weak for a film its studio made for more than $40 million, and it earned a "B-" CinemaScore and a 33% Rotten Tomatoes critics score. Sony's "Ghost Soldier", starring Jim Caviezel, grossed $1.5 million on Friday and is expected to make $4.9 million over the weekend.