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Scarlett Johansson: ‘Captain America: Civil War’ Star Named The Top-Grossing Actor Of 2016 – Here’s The Fine Print

By Glenn Hadley
Published on: 14:13 PST, Dec 27, 2016

Actress Scarlett Johansson was recently named the top-grossing actor of 2016.

The 32-year-old actress starred in movies this year that generated more than $1.2 billion at the box office worldwide. This is an impressive accolade for any actor or actress to add to their resume, especially a star like Scarlett Johansson who has many other achievements and accomplishments that she can add to that list even at her young age.

However, to keep things in the proper perspective, the race for top-grossing actor of 2016 was extremely close. According to Forbes, Scarlett Johansson should give most of the credit for this particular accolade to the international success of Captain America: Civil War – the third installment of the Captain America movie franchise.

According to Box Office Mojo, the popular Marvel movie made over $1.15 billion worldwide – more than $408 million came from U.S. ticket sales alone. Therefore, just being part of that movie’s primary cast escalated Scarlett Johansson toward the beginning of the top-grossing list of 2016.

She was right there alongside the leading stars of Captain America: Civil War– Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. Further reports confirm that Evans and Downey, Jr. actually tied for second place on the top-grossing list because of that movie’s box-office success.

Johansson first debuted her Natasha Romanov/Black Widow alongside Robert Downey, Jr. in the 2010 film, Iron Man 2. She has been featured in several films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe – including both Avengers films and two of the three Captain America installments so far.

In a December 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Johansson had a chance to open up about her hopes for the Black Widow character as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand.

“We’ve certainly grown from film to film. We’re building these different layers of her character. And seeing her, I think we’ve kind of grown together. She’s very capable – and I think she’s emotionally capable. I think you’ll see her coming into her own in this story.”

With yet another Avengers movie on the horizon, it is clear that Scarlett Johansson has a bright future ahead when it comes to generating top box office numbers with Marvel in the future.

However, what put Scarlett Johansson over the top this year? How did she manage to walk away with the title in such a close race?

Two words: DeeAnn Moran.

Johansson played Moran in the critically-acclaimed film Hail, Caesar! Written and directed by the Coen Brothers, this film delivered an impressive ensemble cast of actors and actresses – including George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Ralph Fiennes, Allison Pill, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton to name a few.

With an estimated production budget of $22 million, the film generated over $63.2 million at the worldwide box office – more than enough to give Scarlett Johansson the boost that she needed to take the title.

A notable highlight from the list of top-grossing stars of 2016 shows that Scarlett was in good company – especially when it came to the other A-list actresses featured alongside her.

  1. Scarlett Johansson: $1.2 billion
  2. Chris Evans & Robert Downey, Jr.: $1.15 billion
  3. Margot Robbie: $1.1 billion
  4. Amy Adams: $1.04 billion
  5. Ben Affleck: $1.02 billion
  6. Henry Cavill: $870 million
  7. Ryan Reynolds: $820 million
  8. Felicity Jones: $805 million
  9. Will Smith (Suicide Squad): $775 million

Another interesting point to keep in mind is that Captain America: Civil War and Hail, Caesar! essentially scratched the surface of the films attached to Scarlett Johansson’s resume that made waves in 2016. It is apparently clear that the Forbes list does not include voice roles. If so, Scarlett’s lead would have been much more substantial thanks to the success of Sing and The Jungle Book.

The Jon Favreau-directed live adaptation of The Jungle Book, which featured Scarlett Johansson voicing the villainous Kaa, generated over $966.5 million at the worldwide box office.

Even though Sing was just released in theaters last week, the movie – which also features a memorable voice performance from Scarlett – has already generated over $129.9 million at the box-office.

Scarlett Johansson already has several projects lined up to be released in 2017 and 2018. It will be interesting to see where the Golden Globe-nominated actress ends up on this list in the years to come.

[Featured Image by Mike Windle/Getty Images]

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