Devil Wears Prada sequel pulls in $233 million worldwide
THE highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2 brought in $233 million at the box office globally, marking one of the largest opening weekends for the year.
The Walt Disney Co. film — led by actors Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway — generated US and Canadian theater ticket sales of $77 million, according to data released Sunday by media analytics company Comscore. Researcher BoxOffice Pro had forecast about $100 million going into the weekend, while Disney had been looking for $75 million to $80 million.
International audiences flocked to the film, especially in Italy. It was the fourth highest opening in the country ever, according to Disney.
The sequel is the first female-driven film to kick off the summer box-office lineup. It also marks 20 years since the original debuted — and the box-office estimates have already surpassed the original movie’s opening haul by 2.8%, Disney said. The original finished with $327 million worldwide.
“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 blog post. There was also a major resurgence in viewers of the original film ahead of the sequel’s release. Streaming viewership was up more than 428% from March to April, according to the data firm Nielsen.
The buying power of women and teenage girls was on display, with an audience that was 76% female. The box office numbers aren’t far behind other big hits of the year, including Project Hail Mary and Michael.
A-listers including Ms. Streep, Ms. Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt are back for the film’s second iteration. The opening was the highest weekend ever across all markets for Ms. Streep, who has starred in other hits, including the sequel Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. — Bloomberg
