‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Star Zendaya Is About to Make Hollywood History in a Way No Actor Ever Has

Some years in Hollywood belong entirely to one actor, and 2026 is quickly shaping up to be that kind of year for Zendaya. Between franchise tentpoles, awards-caliber dramas, and a returning television juggernaut, her schedule this year reads like a masterclass in strategic career planning.

That relentless pace has already made her one of the most visible faces in entertainment this year, appearing across five separate projects in the span of just twelve months. But the real story isn’t just how much she’s working, it’s how much money her movies are actually making.

According to industry observers, Zendaya now has a genuine shot at joining an elite club of actors whose films collectively crossed the billion-dollar mark three times in a single calendar year. If ‘Dune: Part Three’ reaches that threshold when it opens in December, it would join ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ as her third billion-dollar release of 2026.

‘The Odyssey,’ Christopher Nolan’s star-studded epic featuring Zendaya as the goddess Athena, has already climbed past $639.6 million globally just two weeks into its theatrical run, putting it on a credible path toward the billion-dollar club on its own.

‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ meanwhile, reunites Zendaya with real-life partner Tom Holland for what tracking suggests could be one of the biggest openings of the year, following ‘No Way Home’s staggering $1.9 billion global haul.

That leaves ‘Dune: Part Three‘ as the wildcard. The franchise has shown a consistent pattern of growth with each installment, with the original ‘Dune’ earning $411 million worldwide before ‘Dune: Part Two’ nearly doubled that total with $715 million. If the trend holds for the trilogy’s conclusion, crossing the billion-dollar mark becomes a realistic outcome, even with the film facing stiff competition from other major December releases.

The ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Odyssey’ pairing has already become something of a cultural talking point in its own right, given that both films feature Zendaya opposite Holland within weeks of each other. Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian compared the real-life couple’s back-to-back franchise run to legendary Hollywood pairings like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in comments to Fortune, predicting, “I think there’s going to be people bragging about seeing both.”

Achieving all three would put Zendaya within reach of a record that has stood untouched for years. The current benchmark for a single actor’s yearly box office total belongs to Brie Larson, whose 2019 run through ‘Captain Marvel,’ ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ and ‘Just Mercy’ combined for roughly $3.98 billion worldwide.

Zendaya’s 2026 slate isn’t limited to those three blockbusters either. The year also included ‘The Drama,’ her A24 collaboration with Robert Pattinson that quietly became one of the studio’s bigger hits after crossing $100 million globally against a modest $28 million budget, along with the long-awaited third season of her HBO series ‘Euphoria.’

That workload hasn’t gone unnoticed by Zendaya herself. Discussing her packed schedule in an interview with Fandango’s Big Ticket, she admitted, “I hope people don’t get sick of me,” while also expressing gratitude to fans supporting her various projects across film and television.

She has also been candid about needing a break once the year wraps up. In that same conversation, Zendaya said that after her packed 2026 slate concludes, she plans to step back from the spotlight for a while, adding, “After this, I’m disappearing for a little bit. I’m going into hiding for just a little bit,” before eventually returning to work on projects like the upcoming ‘Shrek 5.’

Whether or not Zendaya actually catches Larson’s record remains to be seen, but the sheer scale of her 2026 output has already cemented her as one of the defining box office stories of the year.

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