Zendaya currently leads Hollywood’s 2026 box office rankings. Her three films this year have combined for nearly $2 billion worldwide.
The 29-year-old actress, born Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman on September 1, 1996, in Oakland, California, appears in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and the A24 film The Drama. Those titles have taken in roughly $932 million, $912 million, and $132.5 million, according to figures from Sony Pictures, Universal, and A24.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, opened in late July to $360 million domestically and about $932 million globally in its first weekend. Sony reported the numbers, which rank as the second-highest worldwide opening ever, behind only Avengers: Endgame. Zendaya returns as MJ opposite Tom Holland’s Peter Parker. PostTrak surveys found nearly 30 percent of audiences listed her as a key reason for buying a ticket.
Nolan’s The Odyssey opened July 17 and has passed $912 million worldwide. Zendaya plays the goddess Athena alongside Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and Holland as Telemachus. Shot entirely on IMAX cameras, the film held the top domestic spot for two weekends before Brand New Day arrived and still draws strong numbers in premium formats.
Earlier this year, The Drama, written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, opened April 3 and closed at $132.5 million worldwide on a reported $28 million budget. Zendaya stars with Robert Pattinson as an engaged couple facing a revelation days before their wedding. The film ranks among A24’s stronger commercial performers and later hit No. 1 on HBO Max in the United States.
The three releases put Zendaya ahead of other actors in cumulative worldwide grosses for 2026 films so far. Her husband, Tom Holland, married in a private ceremony earlier this year, shares two of the titles and trails close behind. Supporting actor Benny Safdie briefly topped earlier lists through roles in The Odyssey and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie before the Spider-Man opening changed the order.
Zendaya’s rise started on Disney Channel with Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover. She moved into features with Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, then The Greatest Showman, the Dune films as Chani, and HBO’s Euphoria, which brought her two Primetime Emmy Awards. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.
Her 2026 slate still has room to grow. Dune: Part Three is set for December, adding another franchise title before the year closes. Trackers such as The Numbers note that methods differ—some focus on leading roles or score only top-100 films—yet the combined gross of her current releases supports the claim that she ranks as the year’s highest-grossing star to date.
Studio executives and analysts point to the paired success of Brand New Day and The Odyssey as proof that audiences still turn out for big event films. The two movies, sharing key cast, helped deliver one of the strongest domestic weekends on record in early August. Zendaya’s run across tentpoles and a solid mid-budget original has sharpened her standing at a time when Hollywood keeps looking for reliable draws.
Summer continues and year-end titles are still ahead, so the final 2026 rankings could shift. For now, the numbers from Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey, and The Drama have placed Zendaya at the top of the year’s theatrical ledger.
