- - With 'Avatar 3,' Zoe Saldaña just achieved this box office milestone

Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY December 30, 2025 at 9:24 AM

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Zoe Saldaña just achieved a career milestone.

The actress, coming off the success of "Avatar: Fire and Ash," just surpassed actor Samuel L. Jackson for the second-highest-grossing actor of all time at the worldwide box office.

Saldaña's leading roles, including her work in massive billion-dollar franchises like "Avatar" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, have put her second only to Scarlett Johansson in terms of box office success. Her movies have amassed $14,998,849,825 worldwide, according to movie industry data site The Numbers, while Johansson's films sit at $15,401,507,141. Jackson's films stand at $14,613,700,731.

The numbers are not representative of how much each actor earns. According to Forbes, the top three highest-paid actors in 2024 were Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart. Johansson also made that list, at No. 19.

Zoe Saldaña attends the "Avatar: Fire And Ash" European premiere on Dec. 5, 2025, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France.

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Saldaña's highest-grossing films in which she had a leading role or leading ensemble role include "Avatar," "Avengers: Endgame," "Avatar: The Way of Water," "Avengers: Infinity War," the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and the rebooted "Star Trek" franchise.

The third installment in James Cameron's epic science-fiction series earned $88 million in North American theaters for the film's debut weekend, according to estimates from Comscore released Dec. 21.

How 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' opening weekend compared to first two films

While $88 million would normally be considered a slow start for a movie on the scale of "Fire and Ash," the box-office run for "Avatar" movies tends to be a marathon, not a sprint. The series, known for having significant staying power in theaters for several weeks, has earned $760 million internationally as of Sunday, Dec. 28, according to Variety.

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The original 2009 "Avatar" remains the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, and finished its run with almost $785 million in domestic ticket sales and $2.9 billion at box offices worldwide. 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water" earned $688 million domestically and $2.3 billion worldwide.

Contributing: Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' makes Zoe Saldana No. 2 actor at box office

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