Just how much money did the actors of Star Wars: The Force Awakens earn to join or rejoin the galaxy?
Harrison Ford came away the big winner on Disney and Lucasfilm’s sequel with a paycheck in the 8 figure range ($15 million to $25 million) to reprise his role of Han Solo.
The Daily Mail issued a report saying that Ford earned $25 million to return to the “Star Wars” franchise. While insiders stress that number is too high, they did confirm that Ford, now 73, earned a substantially larger cut than his co-stars.
Disney made a decision in 2014 prior to casting the new roles to create a “legacy pay scale” intended for talent like Ford, Fisher and Hamill, who had previously been a part of the “Star Wars” universe, and general pay scale for actors that would be appearing for the first time.
Hamill and Fisher’s salaries are expected to rise in upcoming installments as their parts grow with each film.
The salaries don’t include back-end bonuses from the pic’s box office haul, which in a rare case doesn’t even kick in till the film crosses $1 billion worldwide, and following the success of “The Force Awakens,” deals are expected to be renegotiated before the next films get underway.
Spoiler Alert
Ford is considered the biggest star in the ensemble, the reason he got the most money had to do with the fact that this would be a one-off situation for the actor (SPOILER), since his character dies in “The Force Awakens.”
It’s a fairly common practice in today’s market for newer actors, especially with so many negotiations involving back-end box office bonuses. For the first “Fifty Shades of Grey”, stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan received offers in the six-figure range and have since renegotiated multi-million dollar deals for future installments.
