Two decades following the beloved original film, the follow-up to ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ dominated movie theaters during its opening weekend. Female moviegoers primarily fueled the success of ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ which collected $77 million domestically and $156.6 million worldwide, based on studio projections released Sunday. The sequel claimed the number one position and pushed ‘Michael’ into second place, although the musical biography maintained strong performance in its sophomore weekend with just a 44% decline.
Disney’s 20th Century Studios launched ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ across 4,150 theaters throughout North America. Exit polling from PostTrak revealed that approximately 76% of audiences were women, with 74% indicating they would ‘definitely recommend’ the film to others. Movie critics offered mixed reactions to the continuation, which features Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs character returning to work under Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly at the imaginary ‘Runway’ magazine within today’s struggling media industry.
Production expenses reportedly reached $100 million — a substantial increase from the original film’s $35 million budget. However, director David Frankel recently explained to The Associated Press, ‘As it turns out, you know, 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.’
Leading actors Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci conducted an elaborate worldwide promotional campaign spanning several weeks, making stylish appearances in Tokyo, London and New York. This time around, even Anna Wintour, who inspired the fashion-obsessed antagonist, participated by joining Hathaway at the Academy Awards ceremony and appearing alongside Streep on ‘Vogue’ magazine’s cover.
The original movie debuted in June 2006 and eventually generated more than $326 million globally, without inflation adjustments. More significantly, it established itself as a cultural phenomenon through memorable quotations including ‘gird your loins,’ ‘groundbreaking,’ and ‘that’s all.’ While follow-up films to beloved classics don’t always succeed, expectations ran high this time: Nielsen data showed that streaming viewership for ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ surged 428% between March 2026 and April 2026.
Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biographical film ‘Michael’ secured second position, generating $54 million during its second North American weekend across 3,955 theaters. The movie’s global earnings have already reached $423.9 million, with Universal Pictures managing international distribution.
This weekend launches Hollywood’s summer blockbuster period, an essential 18-week timeframe extending through Labor Day that typically represents approximately 40% of yearly box office revenue. Marvel superhero films usually inaugurate the season, but the combined strength of ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ‘Michael’ provided an effective alternative.
‘This is a really solid weekend,’ commented Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends. ‘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.’
‘Prada’ alone surpassed last year’s summer-opening Marvel film ‘Thunderbolts’ in ticket sales. Additional new releases this weekend included Adam Scott’s horror feature ‘Hokum,’ Andy Serkis’s animated version of ‘Animal Farm,’ and the survival thriller ‘Deep Water’ featuring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley.
These newcomers all finished behind ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,’ which earned $12.1 million in its fifth weekend, and ‘Project Hail Mary,’ which collected $8.6 million in its seventh weekend.
Examining the top four performers, Dergarabedian identified a pattern: ‘Over the past couple of months, moviegoers have really embraced pure, escapist entertainment,’ he observed.
