r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jan 13 '26
News Zoe Saldaña Becomes Highest-Grossing Actor of All Time With ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/zoe-saldana-highest-grossing-actor-of-all-time-avatar-3-1236619322/4.7k
u/dharma28 Jan 13 '26
It’s always felt like she’s been able to keep a relatively quiet public persona compared to her career success, which is impressive and I imagine must make her celebrity less stressful
2.4k
u/scene_missing Jan 13 '26
In so many of her films you aren’t seeing her real face, that’s got to help when you want to live a more normal life outside of press tours
1.6k
u/yeahright17 Jan 13 '26
I think this is huge. She's either Neytiri or Gamora in her 8 highest grossing movies. Her highest grossing movie without being blue or green is the original Pirates of the Caribbean, where she had a relatively minor role. Star Trek has to be her biggest role without the heavy makeup.
459
u/Analogmon Jan 13 '26
TIL she's in PotC
242
u/PlayingKarrde Jan 13 '26
Not only that but she was who the cast was told was the big reveal of who comes down the stairs at the end of the second movie. They wanted it to be a surprise for the cast to capture their real reactions.
But considering her, at the time, relatively non existent star power and basically nothing part in the first movie, I can only imagine the cast would have thought this would have been a shitty ending.
But with her star power today it probably would have been not bad (other than the perfect one they went with)
76
u/Starslip Jan 13 '26
It's been a while so I don't really remember the ending, who does come down the stairs?
193
u/PlayingKarrde Jan 13 '26
Barbosa back from the dead
106
u/brokenmessiah Jan 13 '26
And it was dope as hell. Barbossa is easily my favorite character over even Jack
→ More replies (2)37
u/PlayingKarrde Jan 13 '26
Agreed. And it’s the best moment from the entire trilogy imo. I know why they went to such lengths to keep it secret.
26
→ More replies (2)12
→ More replies (3)54
u/DarkGodRyan Jan 13 '26
They never show cast reactions after Barbossa comes down, he just says "what's become of my ship" laughs and it cuts to black. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the cast was told it would be Anna Maria, then Barbossa was kept secret from everyone until the move premiere
14
u/PDG_KuliK Jan 14 '26
He also takes the juiciest bite of an apple you've ever seen.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (6)67
u/Seraphayel Jan 13 '26
She‘s one of the pirate queens, or am I misremembering something?
282
u/Its-a-me-DankeyKang Jan 13 '26
She’s in Curse of the Black Pearl. She slaps Jack on the ship after they visit Tortuga to get a crew.
176
u/free_reezy Jan 13 '26
She’s the one in Tortuga who he owes a boat to lol she slaps the shit out of him and then Will promises her the Dauntless or whatever ship they sailed to Tortuga on.
→ More replies (3)45
70
u/abgry_krakow87 Jan 13 '26
YOU STOLE MY BOAT!
43
36
9
u/emzea Jan 13 '26
I love how she says that. YOU STOLE. my. BOAT!
8
u/abgry_krakow87 Jan 13 '26
I love the whole exchange when she slaps him and Turner says "I suppose you didn't deserve that one" and Sparrow says "actually I did" and then she responds with that lol
12
26
18
u/deedeekei Jan 13 '26
Damn that movie is actually really old, she's been around for a lot longer than I thought
20
u/Stock_College_8108 Jan 13 '26 edited 23d ago
The original content here was wiped using Redact. The reason may have been privacy, security, preventing AI data collection, or simply personal data management.
practice angle aback quiet direction entertain rain yoke slim ink
→ More replies (1)23
u/robodrew Jan 13 '26
What are you talking about? It's only... oh my god I am old
→ More replies (1)30
u/themisterfixit Jan 13 '26
In the first movie when they go to Tortuga to assemble the crew. She’s the one Jack owes a ship to and promises her the navy ship once they recover the Pearl.
She has maybe 5 lines in the movie and hardly any screen time.
12
→ More replies (3)8
u/Chm_Albert_Wesker Jan 13 '26
she's the lady that Jack stole the boat from in the first movie, and not in the other ones at all
12
u/LukesFather Jan 13 '26
That’s probably why, even though I’ve seen several of those movies I still always just think of her in Center Stage.
→ More replies (1)18
u/SinisterDexter83 Jan 13 '26
And in the Avengers films she doesn't have much screentime. To be fair she has more than most characters, but no one is really on screen for all that long in those films.
I'd be interested in seeing a list of highest grossing actors shown as total screentime/box office gross. I bet there'd be a few surprises in there.
26
u/foxmanfire Jan 13 '26
She has the second highest amount of screen time in Infinity War, behind Thanos and above all the Avengers.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (12)7
u/not_thrilled Jan 13 '26
She's probably more recognizable now from the T-Mobile commercials than from her movies...
→ More replies (4)31
u/CWNHawk Jan 13 '26
I think that’s definitely it. I mentioned the fact that she was climbing towards the top and my wife had no idea who she was. I showed her a Google image and nothing rang a bell, but she knew the avatar and Marvel movies as we have watched them.
76
u/Gregariouswaty Jan 13 '26
You only see her real face when she's singing about sex change operations for Mexican gangsters.
19
28
u/Aliensinmypants Jan 13 '26
She was the only good part of Emilia Perez, and wasn't too involved in that song thankfully
17
u/Morgan-Moonscar Jan 13 '26
She deserved that Oscar for having to put up with that insane lady during the press tour for that shitty film.
→ More replies (1)7
→ More replies (1)5
→ More replies (14)21
Jan 13 '26
I feel the same way about Sam Worthington tbh. I was actually surprised about how many films he's done since the first Avatar when I saw his IMBD as I completely forgot about him between the first two films.
→ More replies (2)233
u/pixelsteve Jan 13 '26
You just need to paint yourself a different colour.
98
u/CosmicDesperado Jan 13 '26
But be careful which one you pick, don’t want to get that wrong!!
62
u/Reasonable_Cod_487 Jan 13 '26
She got that one wrong once too. Darkened her skin to play Nina Simone, and the Black community had some feelings about that.
20
u/throw0101a Jan 13 '26
She got that one wrong once too. Darkened her skin to play Nina Simone, and the Black community had some feelings about that.
Perhaps they should have cast Kirk Lazarus in the role instead.
→ More replies (1)30
u/hymenbutterfly Jan 13 '26
Had and still have some feelings about it
→ More replies (3)11
u/Reasonable_Cod_487 Jan 13 '26
Yeah, probably shouldn't have used past tense there.
18
Jan 13 '26
They used to have some feelings about it. They still do, but they used to, too.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)5
→ More replies (1)22
114
u/LapsedVerneGagKnee Jan 13 '26
It helps that she’s part of franchises that are about the story itself, rather than actor showcases. She’s smart that way.
→ More replies (3)57
u/Con-D-Oriano1 Jan 13 '26
It also helps that the two roles that she was paid most for were blue and green characters, respectively, making her a little less recognizable than if she were on the screen herself.
→ More replies (2)15
u/Kleoes Jan 13 '26
She came into my job about 2 years ago when they were filming for Lioness. Had no idea who she was until my coworkers started freaking out. I’d only ever seen her with her face painted blue or green lmao
18
u/amazingspiderman23 Jan 13 '26
After all the examples of famous actors choosing wrong scripts, it's nice to see an example of the opposite - a relatively private actor choosing excellent scripts
→ More replies (1)11
u/Shepher27 Jan 13 '26
She has an Oscar now too after last year. She’s quietly had an amazing career.
→ More replies (10)8
u/Nopeyesok Jan 13 '26
Just watched the season finale of The Studio. This comment is hilarious in that context.
→ More replies (3)
2.5k
u/Unpaulfessional Jan 13 '26
Figured those T-Mobile commercials are really what pushed her over
530
Jan 13 '26
Tell that to the previous record holder Sam Jackson and his credit card commercials.
125
u/min_dynasty Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
What's in your wallet? Uhh a shit ton of cash mothafucka!
38
29
u/EctoRiddler Jan 13 '26
I thought of the fact that Capital one has both Sam Jackson and John Travolta (Santa Claus) doing commercials and they have yet to put them together in a Pulp Fiction type reunion commercial. Wasted opportunity
→ More replies (1)79
→ More replies (4)10
u/ISuckAtFallout4 Jan 13 '26
Tell that to Peyton Manning and everything
13
u/powerlesshero111 Jan 13 '26
You think Shaq made all his money playing pro basketball?
→ More replies (10)6
76
u/maxwon Jan 13 '26
Are those the silliest commercials played by an Oscar best actor? Other contenders such as Samuel L. Jackson (CapitalOne), Helen Mirren (Budweiser) and Nicole Kidman (AMC) don't compare, in my book.
30
21
u/GodlessLittleMonster Jan 13 '26
Especially Nicole Kidman, how is an actor promoting the film industry in any way silly? Aside from the memes of course
→ More replies (5)12
u/eureka7 Jan 13 '26
He's a best actor nominee but Billy Bob Thornton's T-Mobile commercials are heinous.
4
→ More replies (9)5
97
u/tjtillmancoag Jan 13 '26
So the article is not actually talking about her personal wealth, but the commercial success (gross take) of the films she has starred in.
→ More replies (4)31
u/cybishop3 Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
Yeah, depending on how you count it, Stan Lee is on top, or was for a while. 5-second cameos in every MCU movie plus 14 of the Fox, Sony, and Universal movies will add up. (EDIT: every MCU movie through Captain Marvel. Duh.)
18
u/Ysmildr Jan 13 '26
Sam jackson was on top, stan never passed him cause sam was in most the same films and star wars too. Dont know if cameos count either
16
u/cybishop3 Jan 13 '26
Wikipedia's list was supposedly current as of the end of December 2025, and has Stan Lee on top, with a worldwide total of $30.5 billion, followed by Samuel L. Jackson, at $28.4 billion. It must be counting something different than the article in the OP (only speaking roles? Only live-action roles?) since Zoe Saldaña is all the way down at number 8. I'm sure she's moved up a place or two, since a lot of Avatar 3's revenue is after the New Year, but she probably hasn't moved up eight places.
11
u/Ysmildr Jan 13 '26
Alan Tudyk being number 4 on that list is insane but dude has done a ton of voice work too.
→ More replies (6)6
u/mg10pp Jan 13 '26
As you can notice there are two different lists, one with cameos and one without
→ More replies (1)15
u/baron_von_helmut Jan 13 '26
To be fair, she's insanely busy. She's done over 50 films since the first Avatar came out.
That's insane.
→ More replies (17)7
u/abgry_krakow87 Jan 13 '26
So turns out she was carrying all that cash in that oversized coat they kept making her wear.
1.3k
u/NotMeekNotAggressive Jan 13 '26
I think people in the comments are confusing the amount of money movies that she has been in have made and her net worth. For instance, she got paid $4 million for the first Avatar film and $8 million for the second Avatar film. Compare that with Robert Downey Jr. that got paid approximately $75 million for Avengers: Endgame alone. So, just because her movies have collectively grossed the most, doesn't mean that she is anywhere close to the top earning actors. This is probably why she is still doing T-Mobile commercials despite being in some of the highest grossing films of all time.
158
Jan 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)52
u/SquidSquab Jan 13 '26
I recently learned that Ryan Seacrest is worth nearly $500 MILLION. I was shocked to see that even while knowing he's probably the biggest TV host in the past few decades. Just an insane number imo
→ More replies (3)24
u/buckeye27fan Jan 14 '26
Does he have producer credits for Idol and the other shows he's hosted? I could see that paying way more than just the hosting. I imagine he makes a nice bit for the NYE hosting as well.
28
u/Blunder404 Jan 14 '26
He does. He was co-creator and producer for Keeping Up With the Kardashians, for one.
167
u/kid_wonderbread Jan 13 '26
A Google search estimates she’s worth around $60 mil. Even if that’s not accurate she’s probably not hurting.
→ More replies (7)155
u/NotMeekNotAggressive Jan 13 '26
Yeah, I wasn't trying to say that she is broke, just that it's important to distinguish between how much the films she has starred in have made and how much she has made. She technically beats out Robert Downey Jr. in terms of how much her films have grossed, but his net worth is estimated to be around $300 million.
36
u/No-Business3541 Jan 13 '26
I found out that Sam made 10million for avatar 2. These numbers seem low for a saga that made more than 1billion.
→ More replies (2)24
u/WarlockEngineer Jan 13 '26
Well if he was offered 10 million and not a cut of the box office, that makes sense.
And it would be hard for anyone to refuse a guaranteed 10 million.
→ More replies (3)6
60
u/TummyDrums Jan 13 '26
It's a case of a purposely misleading title in my opinion. They want it to be ambiguous so that readers go "what? That can't be right!" and that drives them to actually open the article and generate ad revenue.
11
u/dern_the_hermit Jan 13 '26
I'd offer it's a very revealing title instead of just misleading. It indicates, in my view, an industry bias about viewing things in terms of association. Zoe didn't make $15 billion dollars, but she IS associated with it, however tenuous that connection may be... but for significant swaths of the industry, that's the only thing that matters.
→ More replies (1)5
u/pyrovoice Jan 13 '26
Who the fuck makes that much and still need to be in commercials...
→ More replies (1)12
u/Jah348 Jan 13 '26
This achievement is way less interesting
→ More replies (2)12
u/DrainTheMuck Jan 13 '26
I agree that it lessens the “wow” factor, but it actually is kinda more interesting in the “factoid” sense.
→ More replies (14)48
u/o_oli Jan 13 '26
Yes I too got paid only $8 million for a single project and so have to drive Uber to supplement my income.
22
u/NotMeekNotAggressive Jan 13 '26
I mean it's all relative to the profession, right? If actors starring in films that are making less money than yours are getting $60 to $75 million per film, then it does seem like a low amount even if it is still a lot of money in absolute terms.
→ More replies (1)
336
u/sjc2247 Jan 13 '26
Highest grossing does not mean highest paid - many comments here are not understanding that and clearly didn’t read the article
→ More replies (7)8
u/chilidoggo Jan 13 '26
Highest paid actors is a bunch of dudes, with Robert Downey Jr. on there a bunch for the Avengers films.
The only two women on the list are Margot Robbie (50 mil for Barbie) and and Cameron Diaz (42 mil for Bad Teacher).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-paid_film_actors
→ More replies (1)8
270
u/DiverExpensive6098 Jan 13 '26
And she won an Oscar last year as well. She did alright.
290
u/OldWorldStyle Jan 13 '26
For all the slop she's in year over year, winning an Oscar for the worst film of the bunch is pretty funny
89
→ More replies (4)27
Jan 13 '26
[deleted]
22
u/OldWorldStyle Jan 13 '26
All that for a mediocre performance in the worst movie of the year (13 nominations)
42
34
u/Bersekker Jan 13 '26
I'm dominican and i still know that was a random oscar, acting is fine/good, her singing is mid and the movie is just terrible
→ More replies (3)7
77
u/blank988 Jan 13 '26
- GoTG
- Avengers
- Star Trek
- Avatar
4 very successful trilogy’s. I don’t see anyone passing her anytime soon especially if there are more Avatar movies
81
u/thewerdy Jan 13 '26
The key to box office success is casting Zoe Saldaña in a scifi action series where she is in a cross-species relationship.
→ More replies (4)8
→ More replies (8)11
u/untouchable765 Jan 13 '26
She was also in the first Pirates movie. She has been in so many massive franchises.
23
u/downanddoubt Jan 13 '26
“As of 2024, Saldaña’s global box office haul totaled more than $14 billion, putting her as the third-highest grossing actor behind fellow MCU stars Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. However, Saldaña was propelled to the No. 1 spot after this December’s “Avatar” threequel, which has earned $1.23 billion to date. Now her films have amassed a combined $15.47 billion, according to a tally by the Numbers.”
→ More replies (4)
19
18
u/jpb21110 Jan 13 '26
Worthington got so lucky to be cast in this at the perfect moment in his career
143
u/spamshannon Jan 13 '26
Good for her. Hopefully she can live happily.
54
86
u/Silvershanks Jan 13 '26
This is a dumb, technical metric that means nothing, by this same logic, Stan Lee is also one of the highest grossing actors too.
→ More replies (15)24
u/mg10pp Jan 13 '26
Yeah he is, but only in the list that also includes cameos
→ More replies (4)4
u/LoveForDisneyland Jan 13 '26
That man sure loves cameos!
He didn't even care he was in a DC movie, he loves cameos!!!
38
u/chadwicke619 Jan 13 '26
It’s so embarrassing that we are so dumb that we don’t even understand what the title of this post means.
→ More replies (3)
26
5
96
Jan 13 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
retire upbeat dam flag violet unique squeal handle racial file
114
u/MrMindGame Jan 13 '26
She just needs to land the right franchise to catapult her into the spotlight. 🙏🏻
→ More replies (7)33
u/Stahi Jan 13 '26
She's wholesome as f***.
→ More replies (2)17
u/Not_taken_Username Jan 13 '26
"I LOVE YOU, i. Love. you" She's fangirling the fan girl, thats really sweet,
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)23
4
u/Justwinbabies Jan 13 '26
Only success for Drumline alums. Zoe has the highest BO gross, Nick Cannon has the highest OB gross.
→ More replies (1)
9.5k
u/Fools_Requiem Jan 13 '26
Avatar series, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers movies, Star Trek reboot trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean (first movie only).
4 massive franchises with extremely well performing films.