Disney Studios is looking at as much as $50 million in compensation resulting from the death of Carrie Fisher. The actress, who was best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies, died suddenly last week of a heart attack at the age of 60.
So why does Disney deserve all that money? Insurance, of course. This would reportedly be the largest single insurance payout in history over an actor’s death. Lloyds of London holds the policy.
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The Disney Empire was not satisfied with gobbling up the Marvel Comics universe more than a decade ago. It also went ahead ahead and bought out George Lucas’s Lucas Films for billions and the rights to the Star Wars universe with it in 2012.
And as any smart movies studio would do, Disney took out insurance policies on its Star Wars stars, including Carrie Fisher. This was an especially smart move as the company had invested in making three new Star Wars movies over a six year period and actors like Fisher are synonymous with their roles.
Carrie Fisher reprised her iconic role of Princess Leia in 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens, ” and will also appear in this year’s as yet untitled Star Wars: Episode VIII due out in December. She was also signed to appear in the third and final film of the new third trilogy of the series.
There is no word yet as to what Disney will now do about the Princess Leia character for the third new Star Wars film.
No such policy was needed for Harrison Ford as his Han Solo character was killed off in The Force Awakens. If you did not know that already, then you would probably not be reading this right now.
There is no word yet if Disney took out a similar policy on Mark Hamill, while Hamill, unlike Carrie Fisher, did not show up until the very end of the last Star Wars movie and had no lines, he is expected to have a prominent role in the next two movies.
