When Disney and Lucasfilm negotiated to have Carrie Fisher reprise her role as Princess Leia in the newest Star Wars Trilogy, Disney took out an insurance policy with Lloyds Of London in the event that Fisher was not able to fulfill the three picture commitment. With Fisher passing on December 27th, Disney could receive a $50 million or higher payout from insurer Lloyds Of London.
From The Insurance Insider:
Insurers at Lloyd’s of London look set to pay out a significant contingency claim following the tragic death of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
Sources said that Disney had taken out $50mn of so-called contract protection cover as insurance for the event that Fisher was unable to fulfil her obligations to act in the new Star Wars films, with the policy now likely to trigger.
Fisher died on Tuesday (27 December), four days after she suffered a heart attack on a flight between London and Los Angeles.
Filming for Star Wars Episode VIII, which will be released next year, was completed ahead of Fisher’s death.
Princess Leia was again slated to have a major role in Episode IX and it is not clear how Disney, which owns the Star Wars franchise, will choose to respond.
According to its website, Exceptional Risk Advisors is a specialist in high-limit specialty life, accident, and disability products, with underwriting authorities from Lloyd’s insurers that exceed $50mn per individual risk.
Source: The Insurance Insider
It wont happen, but it would be an amazing gesture for Disney to donate the proceeds to Carrie’s favorite charities.
Disney wayyyyyyyyyyyy too greedy for that. Kinda tasteless the insurance contract on her to get a payout when she died to begin with.
These types of policies are fairly common. It’s not greed per se, it’s more about protecting against certain losses. Having Carrie Fischer reprise her role as Leia Organa was going to help draw a certain amount to the box office. Now that she can’t complete the last movie, there is potential loss there. Again, not that surprising as this is pretty common for most studios to do.
It’s not really about box office so much as recouping production costs. The fact that she finished shooting doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have needed for ADR or potential reshoots. They’ll have to hire a sound alike for ADR now and any potentional reshoots without her could drastically change parts of the story because they then have to explain her absence. Or pay to CG her in again. Not to mention any devolpment or preproduction work on Episode XI. Either way, it’s not only common, it’s basically a requirement for any film that has actors of a certain age or even sometimes due to personal problems they’re known for (look up insurance that’s a requirement to hire Lindsay Lohan)