A principal actor in a beloved franchise who died, therefore making the movie his swan song and that drove it beyond the scope of what anyone imagined.
In fact, they altered the story of the movie to accommodate and tribute to his passing away, which means that saying goodbye to the character/actor is an integral part of the movie. So with his departure being so deeply i:grained into the movie itself, the bigger question is how anyone can claim that his passing did not attribute to this movie's success?