Movie theaters are girding their loins for the arrival of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” this weekend.
The long-awaited sequel from 20th Century Studios has made $10 million at the box office in previews. It’s projected to earn between $75 million and $80 million in its opening weekend, but some estimates put it even higher at $90 million to $100 million due to the popularity of the original and the recent over-performance of Lionsgate’s “Michael.” Internationally, “The Devil Wears Prada” sequel has made $40.5 million in its first two days after opening in 45 markets.
Last week’s Michael Jackson biopic was originally estimated to open to around $70 million then exceeded expectations with a huge $97.2 million debut. It took the box office crown, and “The Devil Wears Prada 2” looks to do the same and give theaters back-to-back hits. The sequel’s budget stands at $100 million plus marketing costs, up from the original’s $40 million. It will easily surpass the original movie’s lifetime gross in weeks. The first “Devil Wears Prada” opened to $27.5 million and ended its run with $125 million domestically and $326 million worldwide.
Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci all reprise their roles 20 years after the original “Devil Wears Prada” became a pop culture touchstone. Andy Sachs (Hathaway) becomes the features editor at Runway magazine, reuniting her with her old, cruel boss Miranda Priestly (Streep) and fashion director Nigel Kipling (Tucci). They also cross paths with Emily Charlton (Blunt), Priestly’s other former assistant, who is now a senior executive at Dior.
“The film’s chief pleasures are those of practiced professionals doing their job, and doing it well,” writes Variety’s film critic Guy Lodge in his review. “None of the stars here is slacking, and their combined, easily resumed chemistry ensures that this sequel, for good long stretches, feels like old times — even if it’s hard to imagine fans of its predecessor cherishing repeat viewings to quite the same extent. Something that hasn’t changed, moreover, is Streep’s effortless MVP status: Her Miranda may now be too familiar to be menacing, but the hushed, lacerating economy of her line readings, the glassy reserve of her body language, the layers of passive-aggressive meaning she compacts into one arched brow or tight half-smile all invite a kind of in-the-presence-of-greatness awe. “Boy, I love working,” says Miranda quite sincerely, and so, it seems, does Streep. And work, as this alternately breezy and quite pessimistic crowdpleaser is quick to remind us, isn’t to be taken for granted.”
