The highly anticipated opening weekend of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is expected to rival that of “Project Hail Mary” and vie for a spot among the best openings of the year—and it could out-earn the lifetime gross of the popular original film within weeks.
Key Takeaways
- Most industry estimates say “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is poised to earn between $65 million and $80 million in its debut weekend across 4,100 North American theaters (with some estimates inching closer to the $85 million to $100 million range) and another $100 million internationally.
- If those predictions hold, the movie will compete with “Project Hail Mary” for the second-best opening weekend of the year (the Ryan Gosling-led film adaptation opened to $80.5 million last month) and will put the film well on the way to beating the lifetime gross of its predecessor.
- “The Devil Wears Prada,” which opened in June 2006, grossed $124.7 million domestically and $326.6 million globally over the course of its run.
- In addition to record-breaking excitement for the sequel (its teaser trailer broke a record for views in its first 24 hours), the successor will also enjoy a second weekend playing into the Mother’s Day holiday, which has occasionally provided small boosts to films with female-skewing audiences.
What To Watch For
If “The Devil Wears Prada 2” opens to the middling estimate of $80 million domestically, and manages only a modest 40% drop in its second weekend, the movie will beat its predecessor’s global domestic earnings in just two weeks. Typically, movies experience a 40% to 60% drop in ticket sales in the second weekend, but recent films (like “The Housemaid,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and “Project Hail Mary”) have managed to hold onto more of their audiences and the Mother’s Day weekend draw could keep loses for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” on the lower end.
Surprising Fact
Other sequels that have quickly out-earned their predecessors include “Avengers: Endgame,” which surpassed the global gross of “Avengers: Infinity War” in just 11 days. “Furious 7” of the “Fast & Furious” franchise, Batman’s “The Dark Knight,” “Jurassic World” and “Top Gun: Maverick” all did the same within weeks of their release.
Key Background
The first “Devil Wears Prada” was based on the novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger and while its source material was a best seller, the lasting, cult-favorite success of the film couldn’t have been predicted at the time. The film grossed more than eight times its roughly $40 million production budget and is largely considered to have outperformed expectations for a female-skewing comedy at the time. For the sequel, Disney’s 20th Century Studios spared no expense with a roughly $100 million production budget, not including the worldwide marketing budget. In a cheeky interview with Stephen Colbert, star Meryl Streep (one of four big-name stars returning for the sequel) said, “This one, honey, they spent the money.”
Crucial Quote
“Twenty years ago (‘The Devil Wears Prada’) was categorized as a ‘chick-flick’ and that designation has kind of not worn well after ‘Barbie’ and ‘Mamma Mia’ and other films that completely catch the studios by surprise that people want to see them because they have women in the center of the story,” Streep said. “So we had to scrabble for our budget… This one, honey, they spent the money.”
Big Number
181.5 million. That’s how many times the less-than-60-second teaser trailer for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was viewed in its first 24 hours online, becoming the most viewed comedy trailer in 15 years of tracking from data analytics firm WaveMetrix.
Tangent
Reviews started rolling in for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” on Wednesday. The first 60 reviews logged on Rotten Tomatoes combined to give the film an average 75% score, the exact same as the original film. Those who recommend the film have called it “good-natured, buoyant entertainment” (Guardian), but others have slammed it as “thrown together” (Wall Street Journal) and “unsatisfying” (Seattle Times).
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