Box office milestones don’t come around often for actors, especially ones this rare. Yet 2026 has turned into an extraordinary year for Tom Holland, whose career trajectory has accelerated at a pace few in Hollywood can match, thanks to a run of back-to-back blockbusters that have rewritten what’s possible for an actor still in his twenties.
That momentum began with Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey,’ which saw Holland take on the role of Telemachus in a sprawling epic that has already crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide. Just weeks later, he returned to his signature role in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ a film that has since become one of the fastest movies in history to reach similarly staggering global numbers.
Together, those two films have now pushed Holland into rarefied box office territory. He has officially become the third highest-grossing actor of all time at the worldwide box office, trailing only Scarlett Johansson and Zoe Saldaña, two of the most commercially dominant stars in modern film history.
Saldaña currently sits atop the list with a career total of roughly $15.47 billion, a mark she reached earlier this year following the release of ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash.’ Her filmography includes leading or ensemble roles in four of the seven highest-grossing movies ever made, including ‘Avatar,’ ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’ Johansson sits just behind her at approximately $15.40 billion, a total built largely on her decade-plus run as Natasha Romanoff across the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Holland’s ascent to third place is notable not just for the speed at which it happened, but for how concentrated the growth has been. His career total had sat at roughly $13.6 billion before this year’s releases, and the combined worldwide haul of ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Brand New Day,’ which together have already generated more than $2.8 billion, has rapidly closed the gap between him and Hollywood’s top two earners.
What makes Holland’s position on this list especially striking is his age. At just 30 years old, he is now the youngest actor to ever crack the top tier of the all-time box office rankings, a distinction that speaks to just how much of his career has been built around era-defining franchises.
Much of that success traces back to his four solo outings as Spider-Man, alongside key ensemble appearances in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ ‘Brand New Day’ alone reached the billion-dollar mark in just six days, making it the second-fastest film ever to do so behind only ‘Avengers: Endgame’ itself, and it has continued adding to that total well into its theatrical run.
With Holland still years away from slowing down and further MCU appearances likely on the horizon, including potential roles in future Avengers installments, his position on this list may not stay fixed at third for long.
Can Tom Holland Become Hollywood’s No. 1 Box Office Star?
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