The World's Highest-Paid Actresses 2018: Scarlett Johansson Steals The Spotlight With $40.5 Million
Scarlett Johansson leads this year's ranking with $40.5 million in pretax earnings between June 1, 2017 and June 1, 2018, making her acting's top-earning female lead.
Playing Black Widow in Marvel's
Avengers movies has become a lucrative role for Johansson, who quadruples her 2017 earnings to bump Stone from No. 1. She'll return onscreen for the fourth installment of the superhero conglomerate series in 2019.
"The percent of budget cost have certainly skewed heavy, particularly on the
Avengers movies, to cast now, whereas maybe in the early ones it was more visual effects or below the line," said Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President and producer
last year. "But that's okay because [the actors] are the best effects."
Johansson edges Angelina Jolie (No. 2; $28 million) who returns to the ranking thanks largely to her upfront pay for
Maleficent 2. Jennifer Aniston (No. 3; $19.5 million) still earns big bucks 14 years after the conclusion of
Friends, making most of her money by endorsing the likes of Emirates airlines, Smartwater and Aveeno. Expect her paycheck to skyrocket next year when production begins on her forthcoming Apple series with Reese Witherspoon (No. 5; $16.5 million), for which the pair will receive an estimated $1.25 million an episode.
Just ahead of Witherspoon, who rejoins the list with movie earnings and
Big Little Lies paychecks, is Jennifer Lawrence. The
Hunger Games actress' two most recent movies,
Mother! an
d Red Sparrow, underperformed at the box office. But she still commands big bucks for her turns in the
X-Men series and a high-paying Dior contract.
