Meryl Streep Drives $233 Million Opening for Donatella Versace
donatella versace is back in the box office conversation after The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened to $77 million in North America and $233 million globally over the weekend. That worldwide start ranks second-best for the year, ahead of Michael and behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Meryl Streep Returns With 76%
Meryl Streep returned alongside Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, giving the sequel the same core cast that made the original a durable title. Audiences gave the film an A- on CinemaScore exit polls, and 76% of the audience was women, a split that points to a broad adult turnout rather than a narrow opening-night rush.
Disney’s $180 Million Bet
Disney spent roughly $100 million to make the movie and about $80 million to market it, a $180 million commitment that now has a fast path to recovery. David A. Gross called it “This is a sensational opening for a comedy-drama” and added, “Very few dramedies do this kind of business once, let alone a second time that’s bigger.”
The sequel also carries a built-in comparison to the first film, which opened domestically to $27.5 million in 2006 and finished with a lifetime haul of $326 million. This follow-up is expected to outgross that total by the end of the month, which would turn a familiar title into a much larger theatrical asset than the original ever was.
Runway’s 20-Year Gap
The film takes place 20 years after the original and brings back David Frankel as director and Aline Brosh McKenna as writer, with Andy Sachs returning to Runway magazine as a features editor under Miranda Priestly. Streep had not been seen on the big screen since Little Women in 2019 and last starred in The Post in 2017, so her return gives the sequel a clear prestige hook on top of its box office.
For theaters, the result is simple: older comedy-dramas with recognizable names still have room to open big when the cast, the brand and the release strategy line up. The next benchmark is whether the film keeps enough momentum to clear the original’s $326 million worldwide total before the month ends.
