Scarlett Johansson losing her title as the highest-grossing Hollywood star was huge news, and fans didn’t waste a second reacting to it. Box office rankings always create chatter, especially when a long-time favorite drops from the top spot. So the moment Scarlett slipped to No. 2, ‘Saturday Night Live‘ grabbed the opportunity instantly.
Even better, the show didn’t really aim the joke at Scarlett. Instead, it once again made her husband, Colin Jost, the punchline and had him react to his wife’s career news while getting roasted on live television.
Colin Jost Falls Prey To Scarlett Johansson’s Roast On ‘SNL’
During the Weekend Update segment, Colin Jost read the headline straight off the cue cards. He announced that Zoe Saldaña had surpassed Scarlett Johansson to become the highest-grossing actress of all time. At the same time, a bar graph appeared on screen showing both actresses’ totals.
Then Jost added, “Okay, well let’s see what happens if you include the box office from Scarlett’s husband’s movies.” That line instantly set him up, and the show didn’t hold back. Right after that, the screen changed, and Scarlett’s total dropped from $15.4 billion to $15.1 billion.
A silly sound effect played too, as if the numbers were “correcting” themselves. Jost couldn’t even pretend to stay serious and started laughing, glanced around in disbelief, and yelled, “It went down?!”
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How Zoe Saldaña Surpassed Scarlett’s Box-Office Record
Scarlett Johansson’s spot was once completely secure at the top of Hollywood’s box office list. Marvel hits and big franchise films kept her there, and it felt like her record would stay untouched for a long time. However, Zoe Saldaña’s latest boost changed everything.
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‘Avatar: Fire and Ash‘ crossed $1.23 billion worldwide as of January 12, and that surge pushed Saldaña’s lifetime total to $16,859,193,100. Scarlett now stands at $16,435,483,784, so Saldaña moved ahead by almost $423 million and passed the $16.8 billion mark.
Even more interesting, Scarlett had only recently climbed to No. 1. So this wasn’t a slow fall over the years. Instead, Saldaña’s numbers jumped at the perfect moment, and ‘SNL‘ used that timing to turn the headline into a fresh Jost roast.
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