Box Office: Women help drive ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ to No. 1

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” Dominates Box Office with $77 Million Opening Weekend

Twenty years after the original film captivated audiences, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” has made a triumphant debut at the box office, earning $77 million in its opening weekend across the United States and Canada. The sequel added an impressive $156.6 million from international markets, bringing its global total to $233.6 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday.

The film easily claimed the top spot at the domestic box office, pushing “Michael,” the Michael Jackson biopic, to second place. The audience for the fashion-focused sequel skewed heavily female, with women accounting for approximately 76% of ticket buyers, according to PostTrak exit polls. The film received strong word-of-mouth endorsements, with 74% of viewers indicating they would “definitely recommend” it to friends.

The sequel reunites Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs and Meryl Streep as the formidable Miranda Priestly, with the story returning both characters to the fictional “Runway” magazine, now navigating a vastly different media landscape. Despite mixed critical reception, fan enthusiasm has been overwhelming for the follow-up to the 2006 cultural phenomenon.

Disney’s 20th Century Studios invested substantially in the production, with a reported budget of $100 million—nearly triple the $35 million spent on the original. Director David Frankel explained the economics behind the increase: “As it turns out, 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.”

The film’s marketing campaign featured an extensive global publicity tour with stars Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci making high-profile appearances in Tokyo, London, and New York. Notably, Anna Wintour—widely considered the real-life inspiration for Miranda Priestly—participated in the promotion, appearing with Hathaway at the Oscars and sharing a Vogue cover with Streep, signaling a significant shift from her distance from the original film.

“Michael” continued to demonstrate staying power in its second weekend, generating $54 million domestically and dropping just 44% from its opening. The biopic has already amassed $423.9 million globally, with Lionsgate handling North American distribution and Universal Pictures overseeing international markets.

“We were very confident that we were going to have a great hold even with the assumption that ‘Prada’ would do a lot of business,” said Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman. “The conventional wisdom that a new giant movie can knock out a movie that has planted itself is constantly proven inaccurate.”

This weekend marks the unofficial start of Hollywood’s crucial summer movie season, an 18-week period running through Labor Day that typically accounts for approximately 40% of the annual box office. While Marvel blockbusters often launch the season, the combined strength of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and “Michael” proved more than capable substitutes.

“This is a really solid weekend,” noted 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.”

Several other new releases entered theaters this weekend, including the horror film “Hokum” starring Adam Scott, which opened in fifth place with $6.4 million. Andy Serkis’s animated adaptation of “Animal Farm” generated $3.4 million, while the survival thriller “Deep Water,” featuring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley, debuted with $2.2 million.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” held strong in its fifth weekend with $12.1 million, securing third place, while “Project Hail Mary” took fourth with $8.6 million in its seventh weekend.

The domestic box office is currently running approximately 14% ahead of last year, with about $2.8 billion in ticket sales to date, signaling a continued recovery for the theatrical exhibition industry.