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Zoe Saldaña becomes the highest-grossing movie star

Zoe Saldaña attends the world premiere of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ at The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, on Dec. 1, 2025. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)

Zoe Saldaña has dethroned Scarlett Johansson as the highest-grossing movie star.

This switch up in the box office leaderboard is thanks to Saldaña’s starring role as Neytiri in the Avatar films.

The latest film in James Cameron‘s sci-fi franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash, crossed $1.23 billion at the worldwide box office on Monday, according to The Numbers, a film industry data site that tracks box office revenue. This took Saldaña to the top of the list of highest-grossing movie stars, with a total of $16,859,193,100.

Johansson is currently at #2 on the list, with a grand total of $16,435,483,784, respectively.

In addition to playing the female lead in all three of Cameron’s Avatar films, Saldaña starred as Gamora in many Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including the juggernauts Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. She played the character in all three Guardians of the Galaxy films, as well.

Additionally, she has starred in a couple other major franchises — including three Star Trek movies and the 2003 smash-hit Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Johansson, who starred as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the MCU, finds many of her highest-grossing titles tied to playing that superhero. Like Saldaña, Johansson also starred in Infinity War and Endgame, as well as the three other Avengers films, two Captain America movies and Iron Man 2.

After her starring role in 2025’s Jurassic World Rebirth, she went from third place to first on the highest-grossing movie star list. At the time, she had surpassed Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. for the title. Saldaña now surpasses all three of those actors.

The rest of the top 10 includes Chris Pratt, Tom Cruise, Chris Hemsworth, Vin Diesel, Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson.

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Andy Austin

Andy Austin here and thank you for clicking! It’s great to be back in Sanford after 25 years. Growing up here, I’ve spent the majority of my working life in radio. Had it not been for Media Technology at the Sanford Vocation Center and the doors that opened soon after, there’s no telling where I would have gone. With Seacoast Oldies, it’s a pleasure to help serve the community through the power and messaging of radio. Aside from broadcasting, I’ve worked extensively with NASCAR in various roles, but my real passion is cycling. Road, gravel, and fat tire cycling make up a lot of the time I spend outdoors. My girlfriend Heather and I have two rescue animals in Brandon the cat and Ollie Walter the Bernedoodle.

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