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Batman has finally been foiled – not by a supervillain, but by mounting insurance costs.
Ben Affleck, who stars as the Dark Knight in Warner Bros/DC’s recent series of superhero films, entered rehab for alcohol addiction for the third time last week. But by doing so, he may have inadvertently increased the price to insure him to exorbitant levels, experts say.
“More than likely [Warner Bros.] will replace him because the insurance costs are going to go through the roof,” a completion bond attorney told TheWrap.
Affleck was set to reprise his role as the brooding Bruce Wayne in the upcoming “The Batman” movie.
“He would be bondable, but the deductible would be really high, probably the budget of the film,” the representative added.
The insider explained that insurers might only ask for half of the film’s budget in escrow as a deductible, but it could still be costly for Warner Bros. The last DC films Affleck starred in – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League – each cost about US$250 million and US$300 million, respectively.
While a budget for The Batman film has yet to be determined, a Justice League sequel with Affleck could see the studio spend upwards of US$450 million due to the costs involved with insuring the actor – and that is before considering costly marketing expenses.
Not all is lost for Affleck, however – he could star in lower-budgeted films in order to build back insurer confidence.
“A track record of completing projects without incident, that would likely show the underwriter that the risk has gone down and would likely lead to them lowering premiums and the cost of the bond on future projects,” the expert explained.
