Los Angeles, California - Ebenezer starring Johnny Depp in the latest iteration of A Christmas Carol scrounged its way to the top of North American box offices, taking in $19 million in sales in its debut weekend, an industry monitor said.

Depp, of course, plays Ebenezer Scrooge – a miserly old man who is visited by ghosts and discovers the true meaning of Christmas – in the latest of dozens of live-action and animated adaptations of Charles Dickens' classic 1843 novella. This one comes from Paramount.

"This is a solid opening for a Christmas-themed movie. These are big pictures and the weekend figure is roughly average for the type," veteran industry analyst David A. Gross wrote.

"Critics' reviews are lukewarm, but the audience score is excellent," he added.

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Holding on to second place was The Cat in the Hat. The beloved Dr. Seuss feline brought in another $11.4 million in its second weekend in theaters in the latest installment distributed by Warner Bros.

Dropping two rungs to third place was Japan's Godzilla Minus Zero, which brought in another $8.3 million.

Set in 1949 as postwar Japan looks to rebuild, the film sees a new threat emerge: a giant three-headed dragon-like monster called King Ghidorah.

Enter Godzilla – believed defeated in the 2023 Godzilla Minus One, but radioactively regenerated – who takes on the beast with at least some human assistance.

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki, Godzilla Minus Zero is produced by Japan's Toho and distributed in North America by GKIDS.