Johnny Depp’s ‘Ebenezer’ Opens Nov. 13: Dickens, Three Ghosts and the ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Playbook
Paramount has done this once before. On Nov. 19, 1999, the studio released "Sleepy Hollow," a ghost story built on a 19th-century classic, with Johnny Depp starring in a long coat. Washington Irving's 1820 tale is a satire in which the Headless Horseman may just be a prankster in disguise. Tim Burton's film kept the name and the horseman, then turned the story into a murder mystery. "Ebenezer," which opens Nov. 13, does something similar to Dickens's novel by changing the order of events, showing Jacob Marley alive before he turns into the chained visitor, and adding scares to a story most people know by heart.
The two films share a smart trick: they send a rationalist into the supernatural. Burton's Ichabod Crane is a pragmatic New York City constable in 1799 who trusts evidence and is sent to a village to investigate three decapitations. Scrooge trusts ledgers, and in the trailers he refuses to leave his bed when the first ghost calls. Both men start out dismissive and end up frightened by their own surroundings. Roger Ebert's review of "Sleepy Hollow" described Burton and Depp as galloping along behind a traditional horror film in a satire, and that comparison fits here too, since Wikipedia lists "Ebenezer" as a dark comedy and the trailers show Scrooge throwing snowballs at strangers between nightmares.
The differences are as interesting as the overlap. "Sleepy Hollow" was rated R for graphic horror violence and gore, and its engine is a villain, a Hessian soldier on horseback played by Christopher Walken. "Ebenezer" is rated PG-13 for frightening material, and its scares come from three spirits and from Scrooge's own grave, which the trailer shows with his name on it. There is also a role reversal behind the scenes. "Sleepy Hollow" began at Paramount in 1993 as a low-budget slasher, with Kevin Yagher set to direct Andrew Kevin Walker's script, until Burton was hired in 1998. "Ebenezer" moves in the other direction: West, a director known for low-budget horror like "X," "Pearl" and "MaXXXine," gets his first major studio film.
The money comparison is worth a look, with the caveat that these figures are not adjusted for inflation. "Sleepy Hollow" opened to $30.06 million in 3,064 theaters, finished second that weekend, and earned $101 million domestically and about $207 million worldwide on a reported budget of $70 million to $100 million. It also won the Oscar for Best Art Direction. Boxoffice Pro currently projects an opening of $25 million to $35 million for "Ebenezer," which is almost exactly the range Burton's film hit 27 years ago.
One critic called "Sleepy Hollow" the clearest ancestor of this Scrooge, and the family resemblance is hard to miss: gothic sets, a skeptical hero, and jokes in the dark. What West has to prove is that he can do for Dickens what Burton did for Irving, which is to make people laugh and flinch in the same scene. There are no reviews yet, though Dark Horizons reported strong test screenings. Burton's film grossed over $200 million by doing both, and that is the number "Ebenezer" has to chase.
