With its global bow now at a record $529 million, Star Wars‘box office success will undoubtedly afford its cast members heftier pay raises on their next projects. But just how much money did The Force Awakens actors earn to be a part of a galaxy far, far away?
Sources tell Variety Harrison Ford came away the big winner earning a pay check in the 8 figure range ($15 million to $20 million) to reprise his role of Han Solo.
On Monday, the Daily Mail released a report saying that Ford earned a staggering $25 million to return to the Star Wars franchise and while insiders stress that number is too high, they did confirm the 73-year-old actor earned a substantially bigger cut than his co-stars.
Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher earned salaries in the low-seven figure range for the Disney and Lucasfilm sequel. Newcomers John Boyega and Daisy Ridley were paid in the low-six figure range ($100k-$300k).
Actors Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac, meanwhile, received offers of mid to high six-figures. Because Driver and Isaac had fixed quotes from previous film and TV work, sources say their deals were negotiated higher compared to Boyega and Ridley, who, for the most part, had never appeared in a large-scale film before.
In 2014, before Disney even began to make The Force Awakens offers to cast members, the studio made a decision 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 instalments 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.
While Ford is considered the biggest star in the ensemble, the no. 1 reason the actor walked away with the most money had to do with the fact that this would be a one-off situation for the actor (MAJOR SPOILER), since his character dies in The Force Awakens.
As for the younger talent receiving lower salaries–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.