You probably did not expect this: it is not Julia Robert, Jennifer Lawrence or Scarlett Johansson raking in the biggest dollars.
The only actress in history to bag a total of 4 movies that have broken into the $2 billion territory is the one and only Zoe Saldana. Her latest movie, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” crossed the $2 billion mark at the box office, making her the only actress to feature in four movies that have achieved that feat.
“I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love.But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles.”
-Zoe Saldana
The other Zoe Saldana-starring movies that have accomplished this distinction are Avatar (2009), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
This also makes James Cameron the only director in history to have three movies in the $2 billion league with his two Avatar franchise movies and Titanic (1997).
But despite bringing in the big bucks for major franchises, Zoe Saldana says she is feeling “artistically stuck”.
Saldana, 44, told the Women’s Wear Daily in November, “I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love.But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles.”
However, later in December, Zoe Saldana had to issue clarifications for these comments. She told Deadline,”I feel grateful and like the luckiest girl in this town knowing that I was invited to join films with special directors in a special cast. And they resonated with people so much so that we get a chance to come back again and come back another time. If anything, I’ve reaped all the benefits of that, I’ve gained friends. I still have mentors that I call and I lean into.”
