How much compensation would these characters receive if these accidents were real?

From kids’ classics like Home Alone to hide-behind-the-sofa horrors such as It, many of our favourite films have more than their fair share of accidents and injuries. Whether they feature minor scrapes or life-changing injuries, movies don’t tend to dwell on the legal implications of these mishaps. So, we thought we’d take a closer look at the sorts of accidents featured in popular flicks and ask ourselves about the compensation that people could expect to receive if they experienced a similar fate.

Payouts of up to six figures

From road traffic accidents to medical interventions gone wrong, our infographic covers a variety of notorious on-screen misfortunes, outlining how the characters were harmed and what level of compensation they could be in line for if something comparable happened to them in real life.

For instance, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the wizard Gilderoy Lockhart performs a spell in an attempt to heal the young Harry’s broken arm, but instead accidentally removes all the bones in the limb. OK, so this fantastical example is undoubtedly farfetched, but the reality is that medical interventions do go wrong sometimes. In fact, payouts relating to medical claims in the UK totalled more than £2 billion in 2017-18, with compensation awarded for everything from mistakes made during surgery to errors in medication dispensing.

Unfortunately, road accidents are another common problem, and they’re no stranger to the big and small screens either. Take the 2004 hit teen comedy Mean Girls, where Rachel McAdams’ character Regina George is struck by a bus that seemingly comes out of nowhere. She escapes death but suffers a broken spine. If this had happened in the real world, it could have resulted in a compensation claim well into six figures because of the severity of the injuries.

Check out our infographic for more insights into how much compensation the victims of onscreen calamities could have received if the incidents were real. You might be surprised by some of the numbers.