The Devil Wears Prada 2 Opens May Box Office Season with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway Reunited
Nearly two decades after Miranda Priestly first terrorized the offices of Runway magazine, Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are back. "The Devil Wears Prada 2," released by 20th Century Studios in wide release on May 1, reunites the original cast for a sequel that arrives at a moment when Hollywood is betting heavily on nostalgia-driven IP to drive audiences back to theaters. Early tracking suggests a strong opening weekend, with the film positioned as the first major event movie of the 2026 summer season — a season that also includes "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" and "Mortal Kombat II" on the horizon.
Background
The original "The Devil Wears Prada," released in 2006 and based on Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel, grossed $326 million worldwide on a $35 million budget and became a cultural touchstone that defined a generation's understanding of the fashion industry, workplace power dynamics, and the cost of professional ambition. Meryl Streep's portrayal of Miranda Priestly earned her an Academy Award nomination and produced some of the most quoted lines in contemporary cinema. Anne Hathaway's performance as Andy Sachs launched her into the front rank of Hollywood leading women.
The sequel has been in development for several years, with the project gaining momentum after Weisberger published a follow-up novel. The film reunites director David Frankel with the original cast and brings back costume designer Patricia Field, whose work on the original helped define the film's visual identity and influenced fashion trends for years afterward.
Key Developments
The sequel picks up the story of Andy Sachs approximately 18 years after the events of the original, with the fashion industry transformed by social media, fast fashion, and the disruption of traditional luxury media. Miranda Priestly, now navigating a media landscape that has shifted dramatically beneath her feet, faces challenges that the original film could not have anticipated. Early reviews have praised Streep's performance as a nuanced evolution of the character rather than a simple reprise, with critics noting that the sequel engages seriously with how the fashion and media industries have changed since 2006.
The film opens against a 2026 box office landscape that has already produced several major hits. Universal's "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" leads the year with $848.8 million worldwide, while Amazon MGM's "Project Hail Mary" has grossed $617.6 million. The summer season is expected to be competitive, with Disney's "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" opening May 22 and Warner Bros.' "Mortal Kombat II" arriving May 8 among the major upcoming releases.
Why Americans Should Care
The original "Devil Wears Prada" resonated with American audiences far beyond its fashion industry setting because it captured something universal about workplace ambition, the compromises demanded by professional success, and the tension between personal values and career advancement. Those themes have only intensified in the intervening two decades, as the gig economy, social media, and the blurring of work and personal identity have made the questions the film raised more relevant than ever. For the American film industry, concentrated in Los Angeles but employing workers across the country in production, distribution, and exhibition, a strong opening for a mid-budget adult drama would be commercially significant. The theatrical exhibition industry has been fighting to demonstrate that audiences will return to cinemas for films beyond superhero franchises, and a successful sequel would strengthen that argument. For New York City, where much of the original was filmed and where the fashion industry is centered, the sequel's release is a cultural event that has generated significant local media attention.
Why It Matters
"The Devil Wears Prada 2" arrives at a pivotal moment for Hollywood's sequel and franchise strategy. The past several years have seen diminishing returns on many legacy IP revivals, with audiences proving selective about which nostalgic properties they will support and which they will ignore. The original film's enduring cultural presence — it remains one of the most-streamed films on Disney+ and is regularly cited in discussions of workplace culture and fashion — gives the sequel a stronger foundation than most legacy revivals.
The film also tests whether adult-skewing dramas can compete commercially with franchise blockbusters in the summer marketplace, a question that has significant implications for the kinds of films studios will greenlight in coming years. Internationally, the original performed strongly in European and Asian markets where fashion and luxury brands carry particular cultural weight, and the sequel's global performance will be closely watched. The reunion of Streep and Hathaway also carries symbolic weight: both have continued to work at the highest levels of the industry in the intervening years, and their willingness to return to these characters signals confidence in the material rather than a purely commercial calculation.
What's Next
Opening weekend box office results will be reported on Sunday, May 4, and will set the tone for the film's commercial trajectory. A strong opening — industry analysts project a domestic debut in the $40-55 million range — would validate the sequel strategy and likely accelerate development of other legacy IP projects currently in various stages of production. The film's international rollout continues through May, with major markets in the United Kingdom, France, and Japan opening in the coming weeks. Awards season is still months away, but early critical reception suggests Streep's performance could generate conversation when nominations are announced in early 2027.
Sources: Box Office Mojo; Boxoffice Pro; The Hollywood Reporter
