Walt Disney Co (DIS)

[mick]

ah reading, Disney could receive $50M for Carrie Fisher’s death
By Lindsay Putnam December 31, 2016 | 3:59pm

http://nypost.com/2016/12/31/disney-could-receive-50m-for-carrie-fishers-death/


Carrie Fisher’s death could be a windfall for Disney.

The entertainment company, the distributor of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the next two films in the franchise, could receive $50 million thanks to an insurance policy the company took out in the event Fisher was unable to fulfill her three-film contract.

It’s set to be the largest single personal accident insurance claim payout ever, according to Insurance Insider.

Fisher reprised her career-making role of Princess Leia from the original 1977 “Star Wars” flick for the new trilogy. “The Force Awakens,” released in December 2015, made $2.068 billion at the box office worldwide.

Filming on “Episode VIII” was already complete at the time of Fisher’s death on Dec. 27 at the age of 60, after she suffered a heart attack aboard a flight from London to Los Angeles.

Fisher was due to appear in “Episode IX,” forcing the film’s creators to either rewrite the plot or possibly use visual effects to insert her in the film. The latter was implemented for “Rogue One,” in which the late Peter Cushing reprised his role as Grand Moff Tarkin.

It’s unclear if a similar insurance policy was taken out on Fisher’s co-star, Mark Hamill.

An autopsy Friday determined Fisher’s cause of death was “not obvious” and that further testing will be required, TMZ reported.

Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds, passed away the day after her daughter’s death. She was 84 years old.

Hamill gave his first extended interview after the mother-daughter pair’s passing, calling the two “mothering types, both opinionated and determined.”

“I can’t think of [Fisher] in the past tense. I think of her in the present tense, in the future tense,” Hamill told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m angry and so sad.”

FILED UNDER CARRIE FISHER , CELEBRITY DEATHS , DISNEY , INSURANCE , STAR WARS