That Johnny Depp appearance at Comic-Con on Thursday was no small feat to pull off. Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that the activation to promote Paramount’s “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol” took two months of planning, a quick turnaround by Comic-Con standards.

Back in mid-May, Paramount Global Marketing and Distribution chief Josh Goldstine came up with the idea of bringing Depp to San Diego in full costume as Charles Dickens’ notorious miser Ebenezer Scrooge and reached out to the actor to enlist him for the gambit.

Depp said yes immediately, and the studio’s marketing team began devising an elaborate set that included the storefront of Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley’s shop. Special effects were created that included the hands of a clock running backwards, a door knocker that moved on its own and plenty of fake snow. The studio even hired actors to play carolers, and a loose outline was written for what Depp was supposed to say. 

But the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star spotted several fans dressed up as Depp’s most iconic characters, prompting him to go off-script. “He’s so great at improv, so he was just really riffing off the crowd,” says one source who was part of the planning.

Ahead of the event, Depp spent about three hours in the makeup chair, where he was seen joking with manager, Range’s Jack Whigham. There’s no question that “Ebenezer” marks a big moment for the leading man who saw his studio movie roles dry up after he lost a 2020 libel case against a British tabloid, which he sued for dubbing him a “wife-beater.” But Depp bounced back after largely prevailing in a Virginia courtroom in a much higher-profile defamation lawsuit and countersuit in 2022 that pitted him against his ex-wife, Amber Heard.

Depp’s Comic-Con visit this year was his first since 2018, when he made a similar surprise appearance in Hall H dressed in character as Gellert Grindelwald to promote “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”

As the “Ebenezer” trailer played in Hall H, the crowd went wild when the star said, “I’m back” — a line that reflects both the film’s time-traveling protagonist and the actor himself considering that Depp hasn’t appeared in a tentpole since “Fantastic Beasts,” which bowed four months after his Comic-Con drop-in.

Paramount will release “Ebenezer” on Nov. 12. The Ti West-directed film also stars Ian McKellen, Rupert Grint and Andrea Riseborough.