"The Devil Wears Prada 2" opens this weekend to a projected $75 million to $80 million domestically, with global receipts tracking toward $180 million. The sequel reunites Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt from the 2006 original, making it the first female-led tentpole to launch summer season.
The numbers signal something the studio system needed: proof that legacy franchises with women at the center can still move audiences at scale. Hathaway's Andy Sachs and Streep's Miranda Priestly became cultural touchstones nearly two decades ago, and nostalgia alone doesn't explain these projections. The film had to justify its existence beyond fan service.
The opening also matters for the summer corridor itself. Studios have spent years chasing younger demos with superhero and action properties. A fashion-world comedy-drama led by actresses over 50 and 40 respectively cracking the box office top spot disrupts that calculus. It suggests that audiences don't need CGI spectacle or IP built on video games to show up.
The 20th Century film arrives in a crowded corridor alongside other legacy sequels and franchises. But opening this large, this female-forward, and this confident signals that Hollywood's nostalgia play works best when it doesn't patronize the people who loved the original.