The Devil Wears Prada 2 has strutted to a stunning $233m (£171m, A$323m) opening weekend at the worldwide box office, drawing an overwhelmingly female audience. The sequel earned $77m in North America and $156.6m internationally, bumping the Michael biopic to second place in the US and Canada. Michael held on with $54m in its second weekend, dropping only 44%.
Female Audiences Drive Success
According to PostTrak exit polls, women made up approximately 76% of ticket buyers, with 74% stating they would "definitely recommend" the film to friends. Critics were somewhat mixed on the sequel, which sees Anne Hathaway's Andy Sachs once again working for Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly at the fictional Runway magazine in a much-depleted media landscape.
Record-Breaking Debuts
The Devil Wears Prada 2 marks the highest opening weekend for a Meryl Streep film by every metric, surpassing the $90m worldwide debut of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again in 2018. It also achieved the biggest international and global launch for Emily Blunt, topping Oppenheimer's $180.4m worldwide opening weekend.
Production Costs and Star Power
The sequel cost a reported $100m to produce, a significant increase from the first film's $35m budget. Director David Frankel told the Associated Press, "By the time you finish paying all the biggest movie stars in the world, you still end up with basically the same budget for making the movie as we did the first one." Stars Streep, Hathaway, Blunt, and Stanley Tucci have been on a fashion-forward global publicity blitz, with stops in Tokyo, London, and New York. Even Anna Wintour, the inspiration for Miranda Priestly, appeared with Hathaway at the Oscars and with Streep on the cover of Vogue.
Summer Box Office Kickoff
The first The Devil Wears Prada opened in June 2006, earning over $326m worldwide (unadjusted for inflation) and becoming a cultural touchstone with its quotable script. This weekend marks the start of Hollywood's summer movie season, a crucial 18-week period that often accounts for about 40% of the annual box office. While Marvel blockbusters typically kick off the season, the combined power of The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Michael proved a strong substitute.
"This is a really solid weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Comscore. "It's this irresistible combination that more than makes up for the fact that there's not a Marvel movie to kick off the summer movie season." It is rare for a female-skewing movie to lead the first weekend of the US summer box office, which has largely been dominated by Marvel films. The Devil Wears Prada 2 outperformed last year's summer kickoff Marvel movie, Thunderbolts.
The North American box office is running about 14% ahead of 2025, with approximately $2.8bn in domestic ticket sales to date.
