For an actor who has spent much of his life bemoaning one of his most famous roles, Harrison Ford sure has been supportive of the new Star Wars film. He flew to Australia to promote the film, has taken just about every opportunity to say how great it is and given the fact he did it at all led plenty of people to ask the question: OK, so just how much was he being paid?
Well, according to The Daily Mail in the UK, Harrison Ford received a flat rate of $35 million (US$25 million) for appearing in the film, with an additional 0.5% share of the gross earnings. That might explain the spring in his step. If the film is to reach the US$2 billion (A$2.8 billion) worldwide mark that it’s tipped to (it’s already a quarter of the way there in just 4 days), then he would add another $12-13 million on top of that pile of money.
That will take his total earnings for the film to at least $47 million, which will rank him among the highest earners in Hollywood. It’s not Robert Downey Jr money. But we don’t think he’ll be complaining about it.
By contrast, Carrie Fisher was paid $1.5 million for her appearance in the film, and the two leads were paid $450,000 each, plus a percentage of profits once the film hits $1 billion worldwide. Director JJ Abrams, meanwhile, was paid US$5 million plus a 2% cut of the film’s earnings, which is reportedly double what he was being paid to do the third Star Trek film. That could see him net more than $90 million for his role.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is in cinemas now.
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