The highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2 has delivered a global box office opening of $233 million, marking one of the biggest opening weekends of the year.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 has one of the biggest box offices of the year
The The Company release, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, earned $77 million from cinemas across the US and Canada, according to figures released on Sunday by media analytics firm Comscore.
Industry tracker Boxoffice Pro had projected an opening closer to $100 million, while Disney had estimated takings between $75 million and $80 million.
The sequel also performed strongly overseas, with international audiences turning out in large numbers. proved to be one of the film’s strongest markets, where it recorded the fourth-highest opening weekend in the country’s box office history, according to Disney.
The film is the first female-led release to launch this year’s box office season and arrives two decades after the original The Devil Wears Prada premiered in 2006. Disney said early estimates show the sequel has already surpassed the original film’s opening weekend earnings by 2.8 per cent. The first film went on to gross $327 million worldwide during its theatrical run.
“Very few dramedies do this kind of business once, let alone a second time that’s bigger,” box office analyst David Gross said in a recent blog post.
Interest in the sequel was also reflected in renewed viewership for the original film. According to data from , streaming viewership of the first film rose by more than 428 per cent between March and April ahead of the sequel’s release.
The opening weekend figures also highlighted the strong spending power of female audiences and teenage girls, with women accounting for 76 per cent of cinema-goers. The performance places the sequel close behind some of the year’s biggest box office hits, including and Michael.
Several members of the original cast have returned for the follow-up, including Streep, Hathaway, and Emily Blunt.
The release also marks the biggest opening weekend of Meryl Streep’s career across all markets, adding another milestone to a filmography that includes global hits such as Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
