Harrison Ford paid 56x more than Star Wars Co-stars

Newcomers John Boyega and Daisy Ridley were paid in the low-six figure range ($100k-$300k).

It has already smashed box office records for pre-ticket sales, and positive reviews mean it could go on to become the highest grossing movie of all time.

If you thought Han Solo had a bigger role than expected in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there’s an excellent reason, the filmmakers wanted their money’s worth. They received £300,000 ($660,000) each for their starring roles in the movie, which opened last week. “That doesn’t guarantee she’ll be in subsequent films, but it gives the studio peace of mind to know she’s contractually obliged if they want her again”. Perhaps less reasonable is that revelation that Ford also earned 22 times what his co-star Carrie Fisher did, for reprising the role of Princess Leia. “You couldn’t make it without Harrison Ford”, a spokesperson from Disney revealed. Ford was required by the team to set a link between the old and new generations. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were good to get, but the film could have lived without them. The actor has certainly come a long way since he was paid $10,000 to appear in the original Star Wars in 1977.

American J.J. Abrams, 49, was paid £3.3 million ($7.3 million) to direct the film, plus a 2 per cent share of gross earnings. With The Force Awakens dominating the world (galaxy?) & Harrison stealing the show once more with his fourth time taking part in Han Solo, there is no better time to look back almost forty years of time of time to see in that Harrison taking part in Han was all the time good.

Fisher reportedly earned just $1.5 million, a stark contrast considering she was arguably as a big a star as Ford in the first film.