‘The Devil Wears Prada’ struts to first place with $77 million debut
[May 04, 2026]
By LINDSEY BAHR
Twenty years after the original, the sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada”
made a splash in its first weekend in theaters. Driven largely by women,
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” earned $77 million in the U.S. and Canada, and
$156.6 million internationally, according to studio estimates Sunday. It
easily topped the box office and bumped “Michael” to second place,
though the musical biopic held well in its second weekend, falling only
44%.
The Walt Disney Co.’s 20th Century Studios opened “The Devil Wears Prada
2” in 4,150 locations in North America. Women made up about 76% of the
ticket buyers, according to PostTrak exit polls; 74% said they would
“definitely recommend” the movie to friends. Critics were a bit mixed on
the sequel, which finds Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs working once more for
Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly at the fictional “Runway” magazine in a
much-depleted media landscape.
The movie cost a reported $100 million to produce — a significant boost
from the first movie’s $35 million production budget. But as filmmaker
David Frankel told The Associated Press recently, “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.”
Stars Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci have been on a
fashion-forward global publicity blitz for weeks, with glamorous stops
in Tokyo, London and New York. Even Anna Wintour, the inspiration for
the Prada-clad devil, has been involved this time, appearing with
Hathaway on the Oscars stage and with Streep on the cover of “Vogue.”
The first movie opened in June 2006 and would go on to earn over $326
million worldwide, not adjusted for inflation. And perhaps more
importantly, it firmly became part of the culture thanks in part to its
ever-quotable likes (“gird your loins,” “groundbreaking,” “that’s all”).
Legacy sequels are never a sure thing, but this time anticipation was
high: According to Nielsen, streaming viewership for “The Devil Wears
Prada” was up 428% from March 2026 to April 2026.
Second place went to Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” which
made $54 million in its second weekend in North America, where it’s
playing on 3,955 screens. Its running worldwide total is already $423.9
million. Universal Pictures is handling the international release.
“This is on the great end of what we had speculated might happen, but 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 Lionsgate
Motion Picture Group chairman Adam Fogelson. “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 start of Hollywood’s summer movie season, a
crucial 18-week corridor that runs through Labor Day and often accounts
for around 40% of the annual box office. There are often Marvel
blockbusters programmed as the season's kickoff, but the combined power
of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and “Michael” wasn't a shabby substitute.
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Meryl Streep, from left, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily
Blunt pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the
film 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in
London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
 “This is a really solid weekend,”
said Paul Dergarabedian, the 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.”
“Prada” alone actually did better business than
last year’s summer kickoff Marvel movie, “Thunderbolts.” There were
several other new films in theaters this weekend as well, including
the Adam Scott-led horror movie “Hokum,” Andy Serkis’s animated
adaptation of “Animal Farm” and the Aaron Eckhart- and Ben
Kingsley-led survival movie “Deep Water.”
They all opened behind “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which made
$12.1 million in its fifth weekend, and “Project Hail Mary,” which
made $8.6 million in its seventh weekend. Neon's “Hokum” led the
newcomers with $6.4 million, rounding out the top five, followed by
the very poorly reviewed “Animal Farm” with $3.4 million. “Deep
Water” opened to $2.2 million.
In the top four movies, Dergarabedian has noticed a trend: “Over the
past couple of months, moviegoers have really embraced pure,
escapist entertainment,” he said.
The annual box office is currently running about 14% up from last
year, with about $2.8 billion in domestic ticket sales to date.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors
in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and
Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” $77 million.
2. “Michael,” $54 million.
3. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $12.1 million.
4. “Project Hail Mary,” $8.6 million.
5. “Hokum,” $6.4 million.
6. “Animal Farm,” $3.4 million.
7. “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy,” $2.2 million.
8. “Deep Water,” $2.2 million.
9. “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the
Azure Sea,” $1 million.
10. “The Drama,” $908,303.
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