‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Puts Zoe Saldaña Back Above Scarlett Johansson as Highest Grossing Actor Ever

Roughly six months after Scarlett Johannson became Hollywood’s highest grossing actor in box office history, Zoe Saldaña has retaken the crown thanks to her third performance as the fierce Neytiri in James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

With $1.23 billion grossed at the global box office and counting, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” has brought Saldaña’s lifetime grosses in films in which she has a lead role or lead ensemble role to $15.46 billion, passing the $15.06 billion by Johannson, according to box office website The Numbers.

Behind the two women in the top five are Samuel L. Jackson ($14.6 billion), Robert Downey Jr. ($14.3 billion) and Chris Pratt ($14.1 billion). Of course, the common thread between all five of these actors is that they have or had prominent roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Saldaña playing Gamora in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy and in the $2 billion-plus hit “Avengers: Infinity War.”

Gamora was killed off in “Infinity War,” but Saldaña appeared in “Avengers: Endgame” as a younger version of the her from a different timeline, so that film’s $2.7 billion total is included in her total. Now the “Avatar” series set to pass the $6.5 billion mark in lifetime grosses this coming weekend.

What roles get classified as a supporting role as opposed to a lead ensemble role can be disputed. Downey Jr.’s Oscar-winning performance in “Oppenheimer,” for example, is counted by The Numbers as a supporting role, so that film’s $975 million box office cume is not counted on this list.

But his upcoming performance as Doctor Doom in “Avengers: Doomsday” will almost certainly count as a lead ensemble performance, so unless Johansson makes a surprise return as Black Widow in next winter’s holiday blockbuster, the former Iron Man may pass Saldaña on this list one year from now.

Or perhaps Pratt, Saldaña’s co-star in the “Guardians” films, could take the top spot in the near future. While Pratt has not been announced to return in “Avengers: Doomsday,” he is set to star this spring in “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which is expected to match or exceed the $1.36 billion total of its predecessor, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

Saldaña is set to play Neytiri again in two more “Avatar” films, currently slated for release in 2029 and 2031.

The post ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Puts Zoe Saldaña Back Above Scarlett Johansson as Highest Grossing Actor Ever appeared first on TheWrap.