Image copyright PA Image caption Johansson plays Black Widow in the Marvel film series

Scarlett Johansson has been named as the top grossing actor of 2016 by Forbes magazine.

Her movies, including Captain America: Civil War and the Coen Brothers' Hail Caesar!, earned $1.2bn (£978m) globally over the past 12 months.

Johansson's Marvel co-stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr tied for second place with $1.15bn (£938m) each.

Last year, the list was topped by Chris Pratt while, in 2014, Jennifer Lawrence took the top honours.

Forbes curates the annual list by adding up global ticket sales using data from analysis site Box Office Mojo.

Animated movies, where only actors' voices were used, are not included and only top-billed performances are counted.

Image copyright Lucasfilm Image caption Brit Felicity Jones makes the list for the first time

Johansson is joined in the top five by two other actresses - Australian Margot Robbie, who starred in the successful yet critically mauled Suicide Squad, which grossed $746m ($609m) worldwide, and Amy Adams.

Adams earns her place through her current film, sci-fi hit Arrival, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which she played Lois Lane.

British actress Felicity Jones made her debut on the list after her films earned $805m (£656m) thanks, largely, to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, only released earlier this month.

She also starred in fantasy film drama A Monster Calls and alongside Tom Hanks in Inferno.