Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

There is a very famous Christmas story. Charles Dickens wrote it in 1843. It is called A Christmas Carol. An old man named Ebenezer Scrooge is mean with his money. Three ghosts visit him in the night. In the morning he is a kind man.

Now there is a new film of this story. The name of the film is Ebenezer. Johnny Depp is Scrooge in the film. Ian McKellen and Rupert Grint are also in it. The director is Ti West. He usually makes scary films.

On Monday night there was a big party for the film in London. It was at a cinema in Leicester Square. The red carpet had green Christmas branches and small snowy trees. Johnny Depp wore a big hat and red glasses. Rupert Grint wore a black suit.

The film opens in cinemas on Friday 13 November. It is about two hours long. Critics cannot write about it until Thursday. So we do not know yet if people will love it.

ghost

The spirit of a dead person that some people believe can be seen.

mean

Not willing to share money or help other people.

film

A story told with moving pictures; also called a movie.

director

The person who tells the actors and the camera team what to do.

cinema

A building where people go to watch films on a big screen.

red carpet

The long red cloth that famous people walk on before an event.

critic

Someone whose job is to write their opinion about films or books.

kind

Friendly and caring towards other people.

Level 2 — Elementary

Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843, and it has been adapted for the screen more times than almost any other book. The story is simple and strong: Ebenezer Scrooge, a cold and greedy old man, is visited by the ghost of his former business partner and then by three spirits who show him his past, his present and his future. By morning he has changed.

The newest version is called Ebenezer, and it arrives with an unusual choice of director. Ti West is best known for horror films, and his version leans towards the ghostly and the frightening rather than the cosy. Paramount Pictures has marketed it with the line that this is the name you know and the story you do not, and the film has been described as a Christmas gothic dark fantasy.

Johnny Depp stars as Scrooge. The supporting cast is unusually strong: Ian McKellen appears as the ghost of Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint as the clerk Bob Cratchit, Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Sam Claflin as Scrooge's nephew Fred, Ellie Bamber as Isabel Fezziwig and Arthur Conti as the young Ebenezer. Nathaniel Halpern wrote the script and Emma Watts produced the film, which was reportedly made for about 38 million dollars.

The global premiere took place on Monday 9 November at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in central London. The carpet was decorated with Christmas greenery and snow-dusted fir trees. Depp arrived in a wide-brimmed hat and red-tinted glasses, with Grint beside him in an all-black suit. One trade report says a smaller screening was held in New York the day before, so whether London was strictly the first showing is unclear. The film reaches cinemas in Britain and the United States on Friday 13 November, with a 12A certificate in Britain and a runtime of one hour and 55 minutes.

to adapt

To change a book or other work so it can be told in a new form.

greedy

Wanting much more money or food than you need.

spirit

A ghost or supernatural being without a physical body.

gothic

A style of story using gloom, old buildings and the supernatural.

supporting cast

The actors in a film other than the main star.

clerk

An office worker who keeps records and accounts.

premiere

The first public showing of a film or production.

runtime

How long a film lasts from beginning to end.

Level 3 — Intermediate

A Christmas Carol has been adapted so often, and so sentimentally, that most audiences arrive already knowing how it ends. Dickens published the novella in 1843 and its structure has barely needed altering since: Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser who has hardened himself against every human claim on his attention, is confronted by the ghost of his old partner Jacob Marley and then by three spirits representing his past, his present and his future, and emerges transformed. The challenge for any new version is therefore not the story but the surprise, and Ebenezer attempts to find one by changing the register entirely.

Paramount has handed the material to Ti West, a director whose reputation rests on horror, and the result has been described as a Christmas gothic dark fantasy. The marketing is unusually candid about the strategy, promising the name you know and the story you do not. Reports from CinemaCon earlier in the year referred to supernatural horror imagery alongside humour, which suggests a film that wants to frighten an audience that has come expecting reassurance. That is a defensible reading of Dickens, whose ghosts were genuinely meant to unsettle before they consoled, though whether it survives contact with a family Christmas audience is a commercial question nobody can answer before Friday.

Johnny Depp takes the central role, and the casting around him is substantial. Ian McKellen appears as Marley, Rupert Grint as the overworked clerk Bob Cratchit, Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Sam Claflin is Scrooge's nephew Fred, Ellie Bamber is Isabel Fezziwig and Arthur Conti portrays the young Ebenezer, with Charlie Murphy and Henry Lloyd-Hughes also billed. Nathaniel Halpern wrote the script, Emma Watts produced, and Checco Varese handled the cinematography on a budget reported at around 38 million dollars, which is modest for a studio release built around a Christmas opening.

The premiere was held on Monday 9 November at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, with the carpet dressed in Christmas greenery and snow-dusted fir trees. Depp arrived in a wide-brimmed hat and red-tinted glasses; Grint wore an all-black suit. One outlet reports that a 147-seat screening took place in New York the previous evening, which would make the London event the first large public showing rather than the first showing outright. Claims about how the film has tested should be handled carefully. A trade report says an August test screening in Paramus, New Jersey, returned a score of 80 for the film and 86 for Depp, figures the outlet says it confirmed with three sources while Paramount and Depp's representative declined to comment. Early reactions from the few who have seen it have been mixed, praising the darker treatment and the production design while questioning the coherence of the whole, and the formal review embargo does not lift until midday on Thursday 12 November, the day before release.

novella

A work of fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.

Level 4 — Advanced

The peculiar difficulty of adapting A Christmas Carol is that the text has been worn smooth by affection. Dickens published the novella in 1843 as a deliberate provocation about poverty and obligation, and the subsequent century and a half has sanded that edge away, converting a story about a man who has made himself monstrous into a reliable seasonal comfort. Every filmmaker who approaches it inherits an audience that knows the ending, expects the warmth, and will forgive almost anything except the loss of it. Ebenezer, which had its London premiere on Monday, proceeds from the opposite assumption: that the only interesting thing left to do with the material is to make it frightening again.

Paramount's instrument for this is Ti West, a director whose standing rests on horror, and the studio has been unusually forthright about the gambit, selling the film on the promise of the name you know and the story you do not. Coverage from CinemaCon described supernatural horror imagery leavened with humour, and the film has been characterised as a Christmas gothic dark fantasy. There is a real textual argument for the approach. Marley's chains, the shrouded figure of the final spirit and the vision of Scrooge's own unattended corpse were written to terrify a Victorian readership, and the consoling ending earns its force precisely because what precedes it is genuinely dreadful. Whether that argument converts into ticket sales during the week a family audience is choosing its Christmas outing is a separate matter, and one on which the trade press is conspicuously unwilling to commit.

Johnny Depp occupies the title role, in what the industry has framed, to the visible irritation of some commentators, as a return to major-studio work. The ensemble assembled around him is serious: Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Sam Claflin as the nephew Fred, Ellie Bamber as Isabel Fezziwig, Arthur Conti as the young Ebenezer, with Charlie Murphy and Henry Lloyd-Hughes also billed. Nathaniel Halpern supplied the script, Emma Watts produced, Checco Varese shot it, and the reported budget of roughly 38 million dollars is strikingly lean for a wide seasonal release, which both limits the downside and suggests a studio hedging a film it cannot quite predict.

Monday's premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square was staged with Christmas greenery and snow-dusted fir trees, Depp arriving in a wide-brimmed hat and red-tinted glasses with Grint alongside in black. A note of caution is warranted on two points that have circulated widely. First, one outlet reports a 147-seat screening in New York the previous evening, which would qualify the London event as the first major rather than the first absolute showing. Second, and more consequentially, the numbers being quoted as evidence of quality are test-screening figures, not reviews: a score of 80 for the film and 86 for Depp from an August session in Paramus, New Jersey, reported by a trade outlet that says it verified them with three sources while the studio and Depp's representative declined to comment. Test scores measure the reaction of a recruited audience under artificial conditions and have an indifferent record as predictors of either critical standing or commercial performance. The handful of early impressions available are correspondingly split, admiring the production design, the score and Depp's commitment while finding stretches of the film incoherent or overdone. The embargo on proper reviews lifts at noon on Thursday 12 November, with release in Britain and the United States the following day, and until then every confident verdict in circulation is an estimate wearing the clothes of a judgement.