Colin Jost Reacts After Scarlett Johansson Loses Her Spot as Top-Grossing Star

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Scarlett Johansson is no longer the highest-grossing actor worldwide, and Saturday Night Live quickly created a sketch to acknowledge the change.

Instead of making fun of the actress directly for no longer being the most popular, the comedy show chose to joke about her husband, Colin Jost. On the January 17th show, the Weekend Update host became the target of a harsh but funny joke about money, which had the audience laughing.

During the show, Jost shared a quick news item about how much money top Hollywood actors have earned. He announced, “Zoe Saldaña—thanks to the new Avatar movie—has now earned more overall than Scarlett Johansson, making her the highest-grossing actress ever.” While he said this, a bar graph comparing their total earnings appeared on the screen.

The graphic displayed Saldaña slightly ahead of Johansson. Jost, acting as her husband, jokingly suggested a way to give Johansson the edge. He proposed adding the box office numbers from Johansson’s husband’s films, and delivered the line with a confident smile. As the graph updated, a silly slide-whistle sound effect played, but instead of showing an increase, the graph dramatically dropped.

Colin Jost pretended to be shocked when Scarlett Johansson’s total box office earnings dropped from $15.4 billion to $15.1 billion after his own films were included in the calculation. The joke was a playful jab at his own movies, suggesting they hadn’t performed as well as his wife’s blockbuster hits. Jost momentarily dropped his comedic persona, laughing and exclaiming in disbelief, “It went down?!” as he looked around the studio.

A recent comedy sketch was based on a surprising change in how successful movie stars are measured. Zoe Saldaña has now become the top-earning blockbuster actress, surpassing Scarlett Johansson, thanks to the huge success of the latest Avatar movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash. The film has been a massive hit in theaters, significantly boosting Saldaña’s earnings.

By January 12th, the movie had earned over $1.23 billion worldwide, and that number was still growing as more people went to see it. This success brought the total box office earnings for all films starring Saldaña to an incredible $16.8 billion. She has consistently appeared in blockbuster franchises, including the new Star Trek films, Avengers: Endgame, and the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

For a long time, Scarlett Johansson was the highest-grossing actor, having made around $16.4 billion from her movies. But things have changed! Now, the top spots are mostly held by stars from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s really a battle between the original Avengers team, with Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and Chris Pratt right up there with her – it’s so close at the top!

Jost has often joked about his marriage to a very famous woman during his time on Saturday Night Live. The couple frequently playfully tease each other in public, and Jost often references her popular co-stars in his comedy. He famously discussed a viral moment involving his wife in an interview with Entertainment Tonight in July 2025.

The conversation turned to a steamy kiss between Johansson and Jonathan Bailey in the movie Jurassic World Rebirth. Jost playfully teased the intimate moment, showing he’s comfortable with Johansson’s life as a major movie star. The film itself was a huge summer hit and added significantly to Johansson’s overall box office earnings, breathing new life into the Jurassic World series.

I’ve been hearing a lot about the new Avatar film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and Zoe Saldaña has been doing the rounds promoting it. Apparently, it dives into some really interesting new Na’vi clans on Pandora – specifically, these more aggressive people called the “Ash People” who live near volcanoes and create conflict for the Sully family. It’s great to see James Cameron back at the helm, and of course, Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver are reprising their roles, picking up the story from where we left off over ten years ago. I’m really excited to see where this saga goes!

I’ve always been impressed by Scarlett Johansson’s career. While she’s known for huge blockbuster films, she’s really been branching out, taking on smaller, more personal projects and even producing them herself through her own company. She’s truly one of the best actors of her generation – those two Oscar nominations for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit really prove that. What I love most is how she effortlessly moves between intense action roles and really deep, character-focused stories.

Colin Jost is still a head writer and anchor on Saturday Night Live, roles he’s held for many years alongside Michael Che. He’s also expanded into other creative areas, writing the bestselling memoir A Very Punchable Face. Despite playfully joking about his ability to draw audiences to theaters, he continues to be a prominent voice in American comedy.

Tell us if you think Colin Jost’s self-roast was the highlight of the episode in the comments.

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2026-01-19 12:16