2026 Box Office Showdown: Can Robert Downey Jr. Keep the Crown?

2026 is already shaping up like a box-office circus. The headline act: Robert Downey Jr. jumping back into Marvel... as a villain. Yep, RDJ is reportedly suiting up as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, with a paycheck around $100 million and the kind of expectations that make accountants sweat. The film is being positioned to chase the same $2 billion club as Infinity War and Endgame. So sure, Downey could own the year — but he will not be alone. A lot of heavy hitters have multiple big swings lined up.

Who looks like the highest-grossing actors of 2026?

Here are the predictions, based on what they have on deck and how their franchises have performed. Some of this is wild, some of it is obvious, and a few details are very industry-nerdy in the best way.

1. 10. Dwayne Johnson

   Two of his biggest crowd-pleasers are back. He is returning as Maui in the live-action Moana remake and suiting up again for a third Jumanji movie. For context: the original animated Moana made $687.2 million in 2016; Moana 2 in 2024 hit $1.059 billion. The last two Jumanji entries combined for $1.7 billion. That is a lot of built-in momentum.

2. 9. Tom Holland

   After stepping back since 2022’s Uncharted, Holland is back with two high-profile plays. First up: Spider-Man: Brand New Day, following the $1.9 billion monster that was No Way Home. He is also in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as Telemachus (Odysseus’s son). Nolan’s last outing, Oppenheimer, banked $975.8 million and won seven Oscars, so expectations are not exactly low.

3. 8. Anne Hathaway

   Hathaway is part of The Odyssey ensemble, which people are already calling a potential billion-dollar hit. She also has a jam-packed slate: the long-awaited sequel to The Devil Wears Prada with the original power players back (the first one made $326.7 million), David Lowery’s psychological horror Mother Mary with Hathaway in the title role, the Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity alongside Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, and she is leading Flowervale Street. Busy year, big upside.

4. 7. Jason Momoa

   Momoa is everywhere. He starts with The Wrecking Crew opposite Dave Bautista — that one’s going straight to Prime Video, no theaters. He voices Bear in the live-action/animated hybrid Animal Friends. Then comes a likely crowd-pleaser: Supergirl (starring Milly Alcock), where he plays Lobo. He is also in Kitao Sakurai’s Street Fighter with Noah Centineo and Andrew Koji — a gamer-magnet project if it lands right. And yes, he is back in Dune: Part Three as Duncan Idaho. The first two Dune films earned $1.12 billion combined.

5. 6. Benny Safdie

   Safdie is quietly becoming a Nolan regular, returning for The Odyssey after his smaller turn in Oppenheimer. The curveball: he is voicing Bowser Jr. in the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The first film’s billion-dollar run makes that sequel a serious box-office player.

6. 5. Anya Taylor-Joy

   Also riding two mega-franchises: Taylor-Joy is back as Princess Peach in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and as Alia Atreides in Dune: Part Three. On top of that, Sacrifice finally rolls into theaters after its 2025 Toronto International Film Festival world premiere, with a stacked cast that includes Chris Evans, Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Charli XCX, and John Malkovich.

7. 4. Robert Pattinson

   2025 was solid for him performance-wise, but the box office did not pop. That could change fast. He co-stars with Zendaya in Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, plays Antinous in Nolan’s The Odyssey (his second time working with Nolan), and he has been confirmed for Dune: Part Three. His role is still under wraps, though the chatter says Scytale.

8. 3. Florence Pugh

   Pugh was a standout in Thunderbolts*, even if the movie did not crush financially. 2026 is a different story. She is back as Yelena Belova in Avengers: Doomsday, with a significant part in the fight against Downey’s Doctor Doom. She also returns as Princess Irulan in Dune: Part Three. Two big franchises, one very good year.

9. 2. Pedro Pascal

   After debuting as Reed Richards in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Pascal steps into Avengers: Doomsday — and if you know the Reed vs. Doom dynamic from the comics, you know that is a major spotlight. He is also back under the beskar as Din Djarin in The Mandalorian & Grogu, which should be a license to print money.

10. 1. Zendaya

    She is basically in everything that matters this year. With Tom Holland, she is in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (returning as MJ) and The Odyssey (playing Athena). She stars as Emma Harwood in The Drama, and she and Pattinson share the screen in three movies this year — including Dune: Part Three, where she is back as Chani. When your calendar looks like that, you are aiming at the top spot whether you mean to or not.

And about Downey as Doom...

It is a wild swing that Marvel is betting on: Robert Downey Jr., the guy who built the MCU as Iron Man, returning as its big bad in Avengers: Doomsday. With a reported $100 million deal and expectations in the $2 billion zone — the territory of Infinity War and Endgame — Marvel clearly thinks there is juice left in the team-up formula. If even half of the projects above hit, 2026 is going to be a very crowded leaderboard.