Avatar: The Way of Water’s success has made cinema history for both the Avatar franchise and for writer-director James Cameron, but someone who has also reached an amazing milestone thanks to the movie’s $2 million box office is Zoe Saldaña. The Avatar movies have a stellar cast, but Saldaña’s involvement in both 2009’s Avatar and its sequel has put her into her own exclusive club thanks to also being a part of the MCU, in particular her roles in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, which have seen her become the only actor to appear in four different $2 billion movies.
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There are currently only six movies that have ever passed $2 million at the worldwide box office, and the chances of one star being a part of four of them are pretty slim. However, Saldaña’s choice of roles years ago are what ultimately led to her making history as Avatar: The Way of Water broke through the milestone and jumped above Avengers: Infinity War in the list of the highest grossing movies of all-time.
Just like James Cameron’s potential to further extend his historical turn as director, Saldaña could find herself adding at least another movie to her $2 billion collection if future Avatar movies continue to bring in huge box office hauls in the next few years. Cameron and Avatar producer Jon Landau have both suggested that Saldaña’s character Neytiri will be part of the franchise beyond Avatar 3, meaning that the actress is almost guaranteed to extend her list of movies in that exclusive club and her record is one that seems unlikely to be broken any time in his generation.
The Mega-Success Of Avatar and The MCU Has Left Zoe Saldaña Feeling Stuck
Marvel Studios
While it may seem like a dream come true for any actor to have their name attached to four of the biggest movies of all time, Zoe Saldaña can’t help but feel “stuck” making big franchise movies thanks to her involvement in the MCU, the Avatar franchise and the recent Star Trek reboot movies. Previously the actress commented:
While the actress will be back for more Avatar sequels, the status of the Star Trek franchise is still stalled and her MCU journey seems to be coming to an end with this year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, which could mean she will be free to jump into some more one-shot movies in future. For those who want to see what Saldaña gets up to outside of big franchises, the series From Scratch is currently available on Netflix, while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 hits cinemas on May 5, 2023.
“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.”
