Hollywood’s most glamorous sequel just proved that fashion never goes out of style. The Devil Wears Prada 2 stormed into cinemas this weekend with a $77 million domestic debut and $233.6 million worldwide — numbers that left the industry speechless and cemented the film as one of the biggest surprises of the year.
The opening ranks as the fourth-best domestic debut of 2026, sitting behind Project Hail Mary ($80 million), Michael ($97.5 million), and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131 million). More striking is what it means for the franchise itself. The original 2006 film opened to just $27.5 million. This sequel more than doubled that in a single weekend — and with a $156.6 million international haul on top, the global total of $233.6 million makes Prada 2 an instant hit on the world stage.
Disney’s 20th Century Studios spent around $100 million producing the film — more than double the original’s $40 million budget. Director David Frankel told reporters the money “mostly went to the cast.” Given the returns already rolling in, that investment looks inspired. The sequel is on track to surpass the original’s entire $326 million lifetime gross within weeks.
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The film reunites the full original cast after two decades. Meryl Streep returns as the ice-cold editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly. Anne Hathaway is back as Andy Sachs, now returning to Runway magazine as a features editor. Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci reprise their beloved roles alongside them. Reviews landed mixed, but audiences didn’t care — they awarded it an A- on CinemaScore exit polls, a strong endorsement for a dramedy sequel arriving 20 years after its predecessor.
The original film earned its place as a genuine cultural touchstone. Lines like “gird your loins” and the devastating cerulean sweater monologue have lived rent-free in popular culture ever since. That kind of staying power built an audience that was always going to show up — and show up they did. According to one box office analyst who tracks franchise performance, very few dramedies do this kind of business once, let alone a second time at an even larger scale. He noted the audience, predominantly female, simply couldn’t get enough.
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The story picks up where the original left off — roughly 20 years later — with Andy stepping back into the Runway world she once fled. Screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote the first film, returned to handle the sequel, as did director Frankel. That continuity behind the camera shows in the finished product.
The Rest of the Weekend
Prada 2 had the new release field largely to itself, which helped inflate its numbers. Second place went to Michael, the Lionsgate musical biopic about Michael Jackson, which held impressively with $54 million in its second weekend — down just 44% from its debut. Its North American total now stands at $183.8 million, with $423 million globally.
Universal’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie took third with $12.1 million in its fourth weekend. The family animation has quietly become a monster, sitting at $402.67 million domestically and closing in on $900 million worldwide. Project Hail Mary held firm in fourth with $8.5 million — a strong result for its seventh weekend in cinemas. The Ryan Gosling-led space epic has now earned $318 million in North America and $638.4 million globally.
Two new entries rounded out the chart. Neon’s indie horror thriller Hokum debuted fifth with $6.4 million from 1,855 theatres. Adam Scott stars as a writer travelling to an Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, only to discover the estate is haunted by an ancient evil. It earned a B on CinemaScore — strong for the horror genre, where audiences typically leave films in a state of agitation rather than enthusiasm. Angel Studios’ animated remake of Animal Farm opened sixth with $3.3 million, weighed down by poor reviews and a weak C- CinemaScore.
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