For the former ensemble heist thriller, a branded ATM was moved between multiplexes throughout the Los Angeles area over the course of four days. Those who learned of the campaign on the film<\/a>\u2018s social media channels could gain clues about the machine\u2019s location and a specified PIN number, which would spark payouts of a single one-hundred-dollar bill to those who bothered to seek out (or stumble upon) it.<\/p>\n \u201cEbenezer\u201d took a more cheeky, trifling approach, promoting an official Venmo account for Johnny Depp\u2019s Christmas crab apple that users could request funds from. Those who scrolled through the account\u2019s transactions would see it shares the character\u2019s penny-pinching spirit: the only completed transactions were those giving away one single cent. The Venmo account was only active for a few hours, though a Paramount Instagram post from last week teases <\/a>followers to \u201ccheck back\u201d as \u201cEbenezer might be feeling generous on @venmo again.\u201d<\/p>\n Several film news aggregation accounts like Culture Crave and DiscussingFilm reported that the account \u201ccrashed\u201d due an overwhelming amount of requests, though Paramount declined to comment on if such a description was accurate. Venmo did not respond to a request asking if the company partnered with the studio on the sponsorship.<\/p>\n Both MrBeast-ian stunts are, at the very least, thematically appropriate. The \u201cEbenezer\u201d Venmo explains itself to those familiar with the classic Dickens tale of a miser who catches the Christmas spirit. And \u201cHow to Rob a Bank\u201d follows a group of thieves who teach online subscribers<\/a> how to take back money from the financial institutions that screw them over. \u201cLet\u2019s make some content,\u201d Nicholas Hoult\u2019s Robin Hood hero says in a trailer stinger.<\/p>\n Much like that line, there is also a tackiness du jour to both money-mindset stunts, especially in a world where awards shows, professional sports and geopolitical events can hardly be watched without outlets asking you to bet \u2014 erh, predict \u2014 on them. A video posted to Paramount\u2019s socials opens with a Venmo request for $500, asking Scrooge to help pay off a user\u2019s student loans<\/a>.<\/p>\n Not to mention the real inadvertent quirk: the account has been able to receive payments from users. Considering the scant number of one-cent payouts from the account and the number of influxes, it is almost certain that Paramount could have made money on the stunt, though an individual with knowledge of the account shared that all received funds were sent back to users via private transactions.<\/p>\n Krystyna Ursta, a 27-year-old actress, video editor, and Depp fan in Los Angeles, shared that she gave about $30 to the account and received a full refund a few days later \u2014 plus an extra penny and an invitation to a special screening of the film in New York on Monday. She will be attending a local press screening instead. Ursta also posted a video <\/a>of herself reacting to the account, one of many fan responses that flooded in on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of figured that they will probably return it,\u201d Ursta wrote over text after being reached through her Instagram handle, which she included in her Venmo transactions. \u201cI\u2019m such a big fan. I was happy to support the film.\u201d<\/p>\n The rather gimmick-less gimmick of waving around money also helps capture the attention of people that aren\u2019t necessarily interested in seeing the movie, but are going through the average modern experience of thinking about one\u2019s financial situation. Aggregation accounts were quick to post graphics reporting on both stunts, with captions like \u201cHOW TO ROB A BANK ATM\u2019S ARE BEING SET UP AROUND LOS ANGELES AND GIVING PEOPLE FREE MONEY AND IT COULDN\u2019T HAPPEN AT A BETTER TIME\u201d and \u201cEBENEZER SCROOGE WILL SEND YOU REAL MONEY ON VENMO BUT THERE\u2019S A CATCH SWIPE FOR MORE.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also people like Scott, a 35-year-old based out of Atlanta that couldn\u2019t help but engage with the \u201cEbenezer\u201d Venmo account after seeing it on X. He sent a penny, then received one in return. (A disclaimer: six Venmo users were reached for interview about their Ebenezer experience by sending them $0.01 with this reporter\u2019s contact information in the caption; Scott was the only response that timed out before publication.)<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing Ebenezer is now on Venmo was too funny and stupid to not engage with,\u201d he wrote over text. \u201cThere\u2019s something very boring dystopia about it: the idea of a fictional character from a 200-year-old Christmas story being commercialized on Venmo just shows how dumb Hollywood can. \u2026 It\u2019s like McDonald\u2019s Monopoly: take our slop and we might give your money.\u201d<\/p>\n Also helpful for the studios is how little dangling the potential of money actually costs. Sans staffing fees, producing the \u201cEbenezer\u201d Venmo account and its activity used a sum less than the coins between the couch cushions on the Paramount lot. Per the \u201cHow to Rob a Bank\u201d promo\u2019s website, each location\u2019s prize pool gave away ten one-hundred-dollar bills and twenty twenty-dollar-bills ($1,400 total), plus some theater-supplied prizes like gift cards. An employee at the Regal Sherman Oaks that worked on the day of the on-site promotion said the ATM seemed to deal out the rewards in a random order, as opposed to $100 dollar bills for the first finders. Amazon MGM declined to comment, while Stellar Agency Inc., which sponsored and administered the promotion, did not respond to a request.<\/p>\n Both had much smaller overheads than a \u201cNow You See Me: Now You Don\u2019t\u201d promotion than ran in April 2025. To launch the magician threequel\u2019s first trailer, Lionsgate reportedly gave away roughly $250,000<\/a> to those that texted a mysterious phone number displaying in Times Square in the hours up to the drop. Like \u201cEbenezer\u201d and \u201cHow to Rob a Bank,\u201d it was a promotion that sparked a viral moment with plenty of user-generated content, each sharing the widely desired fantasy of receiving free money.<\/p>\n Neon handed out basic resources for an \u201cI Love Boosters\u201d promotion in May, where stars KeKe Palmer and LaKeith Stanfield took over a Shell gas station in West Pico to give out complimentary refills to the first 70 cars<\/a> that arrived. The stunt played on then-peaking fuel prices, which had skyrocketed in the wake of the U.S.\u2019 initial bombing of Iran in February and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n In the months since, President Trump has promised $5,000 checks to every adult U.S. citizen if the Republican Party retains control of Congress in Tuesday\u2019s midterm elections. Trump announced the idea, his approval rating was at a dismal 35 percent, per a CNN aggregate of various polls<\/a>. Though the offer is unprecedented and dubious on its face, it has been covered extensively \u2014 and it cost nothing to float it.<\/p>\n![\"'Wild](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/election-night-showings_39f7c5.jpg\")
<\/a> ![\"THE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/MCDODYS_UV016.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n