The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens huge, $77 million domestic debut
Women made up 76% of ticket buyers as the sequel surged past its opening-weekend projections. Its $77 million domestic start topped the original film’s entire North American run.
Twenty years after the first film became a cultural fixture, The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened with a box-office jolt that Hollywood has spent years trying to manufacture. Studio estimates put the sequel at $77 million in the U.S. and Canada, with a $156.6 million worldwide start cited in one tally and a separate global figure of $233.6 million reported later, putting the film firmly at No. 1 and sending Michael to second place.
Disney’s 20th Century Studios released the sequel in 4,150 North American theaters, and the audience skewed heavily female. PostTrak exit polls showed women made up about 76% of ticket buyers, while 74% said they would definitely recommend the movie to friends. That demographic profile matters as much as the raw total: the film showed that a long-dormant brand can still draw a concentrated, enthusiastic audience when the cast, timing and nostalgia all align.
The opening also beat the industry’s expectations. Trackers had first projected about $66 million domestically, then moved the range to $75 million to $80 million. Deadline said the film cleared $10 million in Thursday previews before the weekend even began, a sign of strong advance interest that carried into the three-day frame. The sequel opened No. 1 in all major markets except France, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan, and in Italy it logged the No. 4 Hollywood opening ever.
The draw is built on familiar names and a familiar premise. Anne Hathaway returns as Andy Sachs, again working for Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly at the fictional Runway magazine, now set against a depleted media landscape that gives the sequel a built-in story about how the industry has changed. Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci also return, and Disney’s trailer materials used the original song “Runway” by Lady Gaga and Doechii to link the old brand to a current pop moment.
Even with mixed reviews, the commercial case was clear. Rotten Tomatoes’ first-review roundup called it a worthy, entertaining follow-up that offers more than nostalgia, and Metacritic lists it as a PG-13 comedy-drama running 1 hour 59 minutes, released May 1, 2026. The scale of the opening is especially striking beside the 2006 original, which debuted to $27.5 million from 2,847 theaters and finished with $124.7 million domestically and $326.1 million worldwide. This sequel passed that first domestic haul in a single weekend, a reminder that theatrical nostalgia works best when it still has an audience eager to buy a ticket.
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