Zoe Saldana Overtakes Box Office Rivals with Blockbuster Roles

Landing a part in the world’s most lucrative film franchises has its perks, and few know this better than Zoe Saldana. Her involvement in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and James Cameron’s Avatar series has propelled her to the top of the box office charts. With Avatar: Fire and Ash still drawing crowds and adding to its $1.25 billion haul, Saldana’s cumulative gross has now reached $15.47 billion. This figure nudges her just ahead of Scarlett Johansson, whose own tally climbed to $15.4 billion after joining the Jurassic World franchise.

These numbers, based solely on leading roles, are nothing short of remarkable. Saldana and Johansson now sit above a host of other Marvel regulars, including Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and Chris Pratt. The influence of the MCU on these rankings is hard to ignore, especially considering the $2.79 billion boost from Avengers: Endgame, which featured a veritable who’s who of the franchise.

Franchise Fortunes and Shifting Standings

For Saldana, her presence in all three of Cameron’s Avatar instalments—currently boasting a combined box office of $6.5 billion—has given her a significant edge over her peers. Whether she can maintain her lead, however, is far from certain. Much depends on the future performance of the very franchises that have elevated these actors to such dizzying heights.

Cameron isn’t finished with Pandora just yet. Two more Avatar films are on the cards, pencilled in for 2029 and 2031. Yet, there’s a sense that Avatar: Fire and Ash may struggle to match the runaway success of its predecessors, with projections suggesting future entries could wrap up their cinema runs somewhere between $1.5 and $1.8 billion. Saldana is expected to reprise her role as Neytiri, but the competition is hardly standing still.

Rivals on the Horizon

Two upcoming Avengers films—Doomsday and Secret Wars—are poised to shake up the leaderboard. The MCU has had its ups and downs of late, but the track record of previous Avengers outings makes it likely that both will flirt with the $2 billion mark when they arrive in December 2026 and 2027. Robert Downey Jr., returning as Iron Man and taking on the mantle of Doctor Doom, could see his own total leap by as much as $4 billion, adding to his already impressive $14.3 billion.

How the numbers will stack up in the next couple of years remains to be seen. Johansson, for her part, isn’t resting on her laurels. She’s lined up for another Jurassic World entry, a role in The Batman Part II, and a part in Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist. The former Black Widow may yet reclaim her spot at the summit, depending on how these projects fare at the box office.