Scarlett Johansson tops Forbes' highest-paid actress list with $40.5 million

Scarlett Johansson replaced Emma Stone and topped the Forbes list of actresses in 2018. Gal Gadot ranked among the top ten with $10 million, becoming the only new face.

The statistics are based on the period from June 1, 2017 to June 1 this year. Black Widow leads all actresses with a pre-tax income of $40.5 million. She has made a lot of money playing Black Widow in Marvel movies. Compared with last year's statistics, Black Widow's income has quadrupled. In 2019, she will star in Avengers 4, which will be released soon.

Angelina Jolie came in second with $28 million, a figure largely due to the advance payment for Maleficent 2. Jennifer Aniston, who came in third with $19.5 million, made a fortune from her commercial for Emirates Airlines, but that may just be the beginning.

Aniston's collaboration with Reese Witherspoon on Apple's "The Silence of the Lambs" will likely help her make a mark on next year's list, with the latter ranking fifth this year with $16.5 million, mostly from "Big Little Lies."

Jennifer Lawrence ranked fourth ahead of Witherspoon. Although her two movies "Mother!" and "Red Sparrow" did not perform well at the box office, she still made the list with $18 million thanks to the "X-Men" series and Dior endorsement.

The top 10 actresses made a combined $186 million before taxes, a 16 percent increase from last year's $172.5 million, before deducting fees for agents, managers and lawyers, according to data from Nielsen, ComScore, Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders.

It is worth mentioning that Gal Gadot is the only newcomer on this year's list, ranking tenth with $10 million. The salary for Wonder Woman 2 accounts for a large part of her salary, in addition to the endorsement fee from Revlon.

It is worth mentioning that according to a 2016 study, female roles only account for 28.7% of all film roles. The lack of roles has reduced the opportunities for these female stars to make money. This year, only two actresses received more than $20 million in salary, which is a further decline compared to three in 2017 and four in 2016. In addition, Amy Adams, Emma Watson, Charlize Theron, and even Emma Stone, who made the list last year, did not make more than $10 million this year and failed to make the list.