The Devil Wears Prada 2 has stormed the global box office with a stunning £171m ($233m) opening weekend, driven overwhelmingly by female audiences. The sequel earned £56.5m ($77m) in North America and £115m ($156.6m) internationally, marking the highest opening weekend of Meryl Streep's career and the biggest global launch for Emily Blunt.
Women accounted for 76% of ticket buyers, with 74% saying they would 'definitely recommend' the film, according to PostTrak exit polls. Critics were mixed on the sequel, which sees Anne Hathaway's Andy Sachs return to work for Streep's Miranda Priestly at Runway magazine in a diminished media landscape.
The film's $100m production budget was a significant increase from the first movie's $35m, but director David Frankel noted that paying top stars consumed most of the budget. The cast, including Streep, Hathaway, Blunt and Stanley Tucci, embarked on a global publicity tour 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.
The original The Devil Wears Prada opened in June 2006 and earned over $326m worldwide, becoming a cultural touchstone. The sequel's debut kicked off Hollywood's summer movie season, a rare instance of a female-skewing film leading the box office, typically dominated by Marvel. The North American box office is currently 14% up on last year, with $2.8bn in domestic sales to date.
