Johnny Depp stole the spotlight at Comic-Con on Thursday, appearing in full Scrooge costume for his upcoming Ti West-directed movie Ebenezer. The appearance today by the three-time Oscar nominee came as part of a stunt in which the David Ellison-owned Paramount Pictures fired up a faux 1880s British Christmas village in San Diego’s Gaslamp district. Depp emerged from the door of the installation and addressed the crowd, which had been gathering on the street in front of the installation for more than an hour.
They shouted questions and offered salutations, including“Good day to you, Mr. Scrooge.” He responded in full character,“What’s so good about it?”
Johnny Depp has appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge outside of the Ebenezer store | #SDCC ‘26 pic. twitter. com/jBekzhHmB1 The stunt kicked off with Victorian carolers emerging singing Christmas songs, after which Depp-as-Scrooge appeared in the window of the mock storefront.
He then emerged from the door. Later, another character in Dickensian period garb kicked off asking him about fair wages, which drew only grumbles from Scrooge. The moment was peppered throughout by the crowd shouting things like“We love you”to Depp, who stayed in character the entire time — including some sort of nose prosthetic.
The latest adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas tale hits theaters November 13. Motion picture marketing execs cry about the oxygen being sucked out of San Diego Comic-Con by rival studios, even if Disney’s Hall H Marvel panel is one of the last hoorahs to go down Saturday night. But along comes Depp this afternoon for a mic-drop moment, appearing shortly after DC’s Jim Lee panel that featured a look at James Watkins’ upcoming movie Clayface.
It just goes to show you don’t always need a Q&A panel at SDCC with actors and footage to get attention; always better to zag then zig in your marketing. RELATED: ‘Clayface’ Trailer: DC Studios’ Batman Bad Guy Gets His Close-Up By our count, today marked Depp’s third time at San Diego Comic-Con; previously, he went full-on guerrilla theater on the 2018’s Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald panel, where he turned up as the titular character ranting about freedom and truth. (An hour later that year, his ex-wife Amber Heard appeared at Warner Bros’ Aquaman panel, in what was heralded by the media as a weird moment.
At the time, Heard had settled a $7 million divorce with Depp, in which she first accused him of physical abuse, only to dismiss the asserts in a 2016 settlement. ) Depp also appeared at SDCC in 2009 for Disney’s Tim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland. It’s par for the course for Depp to turn up in character.
In a 2013 interview with EW he disclosed that he carried his Jack Sparrow Pirates of the Caribbean costume with him so he can make surprise tours to children’s hospitals. Johnny Depp makes a surprise appearance as Ebenezer Scrooge at Comic-Con and states the infamous phrase“Humbug!” | #SDCC ‘26 pic.
twitter. com/gHvGRvtzDZ A crowd has formed outside of the Scrooge and Marley shop in downtown San Diego | #SDCC ‘26 pic. twitter.
com/2i34ZEJKNV Christmas Carolers outside of the Ebenezer store | #SDCC ‘26 pic. twitter. com/140HYiJ8vX Following his 2022 defamation battle with Heard over a Washington Post op-ed in which she wrote about being a victim of domestic abuse, Depp turned up at Cannes 2023 to do press for his opening-night film Jeanne du Barry.
Since then, Depp has become more visible in public since then, i. e. , showing up at the 2025 Red Sea Film Festival and at CinemaCon in April to promote Ebenezer.
RELATED: ‘Ebenezer’s Johnny Depp Stops By CinemaCon To Detail Lifelong Obsession With ‘A Christmas Carol’, Unveil First Footage It was at Cannes three years ago where Deadline questioned Depp whether he still felt boycotted by Hollywood, statements he expressed in an August 2021 Sunday Times interview. He answered,“Did I feel a boycott by Hollywood? Well, you’d have to not have a pulse to feel at that point, ‘None of this is happening, it’s just a weird joke or I have been asleep for 35 years.
’ Of course, when you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing, because of something that is merely a bunch of kind of vowels and consonants floating in the air, you feel a boycott.” He also added,“Do I feel a boycott now? No, not at all.
I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t have much further need for Hollywood myself,”he added. “I think it’s a very strange, funny time where everybody wants to be themselves, but they can’t, they must fall in line, conform — and if you want to lead this life, I’ll be on the other side.”
It was clear today with his Comic-Con appearance that, indeed, Depp and Hollywood still need each other.