Thanks to Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zoe Saldaña has officially dethroned Scarlett Johansson as the top grossing actor of all time worldwide.
According to The Numbers, Saldaña’s current gross, which includes the current global box office take for the new installment of Avatar, is nearly $17 billion. However, Johansson is still trailing very closely behind, with her own current gross coming to just under $16.5 billion. At this point, there’s about a $423 million difference between the two A-Listers, though it seems like that gap will continue to grow with Avatar still in theaters.
At this point in time, James Cameron’s third Avatar film has grossed a solid $342 million domestically and another $888 million worldwide, totalling to approximately $1.2 billion and climbing. Considering the original 2009 film is considered the highest grossing film of all time to this day (not counting inflation), it makes sense to see the new film, a sequel to 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, shine at the box office and put Saldaña at the top.
Johansson’s latest blockbuster, though a solid box office hit, did not see success on the same level as the enormous Avatar franchise. Jurassic World Rebirth, which was released back in July 2025, snagged $869 million in total at the global box office. That falls just shy of Avatar’s current take-home by about $330 million.
As of right now, both former Marvel actresses have a few projects lined up in the next year or two, but only one project on those dockets seems like it may make a real dent and put ScarJo on top again. That project in question is The Batman Part II, which is currently slated for a 2027 release.
No matter the numbers, one thing’s for sure: both of these performers are some of the best the industry has to offer.
Image credit: John Parra/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
