This is what it would cost to actually rescue Matt Damon characters in all his movies

(Image credit: Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images)

published 29 December 2015

Matt Damon has a knack for getting himself into some sticky situations — or at least his characters do. In 2015's The Martian, for example, Damon plays astronaut Mark Watney, who requires an approximately $200 billion rescue from Mars.

When you throw in a World War II search party (Saving Private Ryan, $100k), an Earth evacuation spaceship (Titan A.E., $200m), and U.S. Army transport from the Middle East (Green Zone, $50k), it becomes clear that the cost of saving Matt Damon adds up fast. Thanks to Quora user Kynan Eng, we now have an approximate price tag for how much it would cost to save Damon in all of his movies: $900 billion.

But not all of Damon's "rescues" counted, with Eng disqualifying the Bourne series "because Matt Damon does lots of travel at his own expense (he might have lots of frequent flyer points under different identities)." That being said, Eng added that "maybe it's yes, because plenty of money is spent trying to 'bring him back' — but the people looking for him don't seem to be very concerned about his safety."

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The real question is why after so many failed attempts do we continue to send Matt Damon into outrageous scenarios which inevitably require hundreds of millions of dollars simply to rescue him only so he can undo all our efforts by getting stuck in another equally or more absurd situation. $1Bn minimum. Which, while I don't believe in putting a price on human life, is too high even for Matt Damon. [Quora]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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