‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ tops box office with $77 million debut

LOS ANGELES – “The Devil Wears Prada 2” opened with $77 million this weekend to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

The sequel to 2006’s comedic drama about the fashion industry, in which Meryl Streep plays a character loosely based on longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour, was directed by David Frankel, who also helmed the first film.

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Meryl Streep, from left, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Anne Hathaway attend “The Devil Wears Prada 2” world premiere at David Geffen Hall on Monday, April 20, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

‘Michael’ is No. 2

“Michael,” the biopic about Michael Jackson starring the late pop superstar’s nephew Jaafar Jeremiah Jackson in the title role, grossed $54 million in its second weekend, Comscore reported.

This image released by Lionsgate shows Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in a scene from “Michael.” (Glen Wilson/Lionsgate via AP)

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” was third with $12.1 million Friday through Sunday in its fifth weekend in theaters in the United States and Canada.

“Project Hail Mary” was fourth with $8.5 million in its seventh week, followed by the horror film “Hokum,” which opened with $6.4 million.

“Animal Farm,” an animated version of George Orwell’s 1945 novel directed by Andy Serkis, opened in sixth place with $3.4 million.

Rounding out the top 10 releases were “Lee Cronin’s The Mummy” ($2.2 million), “Deep Water” ($2.1 million), “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea 2026” ($1 million) and “The Drama” ($908,303).

$172.5M box office haul

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $172.5 million. The year-to-date total is $2.794 billion — up 14% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

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.

Driven by women

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.”

Global publicity blitz

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.

Summer movie season

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.

“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.”

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. (With CNS and AP reports)

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