The Devil Wears Prada 2 Opens Strong With $10M Plus Thursday Previews

Fashion’s favorite workplace satire returned with a $10 million-plus burst in Thursday previews, a number that immediately framed The Devil Wears Prada 2 as more than a one-night result. It pointed to whether a 20-year-old franchise built on style, status and sharp dialogue can still drive adult audiences into theaters like a true event movie.

The previews began at 2 p.m. Thursday, April 30, and the film is now tracking toward a roughly $180 million global start, including about $100 million overseas. China was tracking to about $2.5 million on Friday, and social-media buzz measured by RelishMix came in at 7.2. 20th Century Studios said the sequel debuts exclusively in theaters on May 1, 2026, a release pattern that puts the movie squarely in the summer-opening conversation as studios look for non-superhero titles with broad appeal.

That context makes the comparison to the original especially striking. The 2006 The Devil Wears Prada opened on Friday, June 30, 2006, with $9.4 million on Friday and $27.5 million over the three-day weekend. Made for $35 million, it went on to gross $124.7 million domestically and $326.5 million worldwide, figures that helped turn the film into a cultural marker rather than just a hit comedy. The franchise box-office record now includes both films, underscoring how long the original has lasted in the marketplace.

The sequel arrives with David Frankel back in the director’s chair and Aline Brosh McKenna again writing. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci return, joined by Kenneth Branagh, Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Pauline Chalamet and B.J. Novak. Tracie Thoms and Tibor Feldman also reprise their roles from the first film.

Early reviews describe Andy and Miranda as facing a series of crises that build toward a larger catastrophe, keeping the story rooted in the pressures of media, fashion and legacy power. The bigger takeaway from the preview strength is broader than one franchise. It suggests there is still room in theatrical exhibition for adult-skewing movies built on brand recognition, especially when the title carries millennial nostalgia and enough cultural memory to feel like event cinema outside the superhero formula.