411 Box Office Report: The Devil Wears Prada 2 Scores Win With $77 Million Start

Miranda Priestley ruled the box office as The Devil Wears Prada 2 nailed down a huge opening weekend haul. The sequel to the 2006 fashion workplace comedy brought in $77 million to dominate the competition in the first weekend of what is traditionally considered the start of the summer box office.

The win marks the first time a female-targeted film has won the first weekend of the summer. It’s a huge improvement on the first film’s premiere weekend, when it took in $27.5 million all the way back in June of 2006. Since that time, The Devil Wears Prada has only improved its cultural cache and Prada 2 was always expected to be a hit. Still, the start is particularly impressive for a film that doesn’t have the usual superhero suits required to lead the way into the summer months.

Disney knew they had a massive hit in the making with Prada 2, and they positioned it as such with an event-level marketing campaign. That paid off big-time. Critics like it about as much as the original, with a 78% aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes (compared to 75% for Devil Wears Prada and audiences love it with an A- CinemaScore and 87% RT audience rating. Those helped translate into big bucks for the film.

Prada 2 is also scoring overseas with $156.6 million for a $233.6 million worldwide. While the film has a fairly high price tag for its genre at $100 million (the original cost $40 million), it’s very well positioned for profit. The domestic total should be able to reach $200 million without too much difficulty.

Michael didn’t feel the hit from Devil Wears Prada 2, as the Michael Jackson biopic tallied up $54 million in its second weekend. That is a very impressive hold for the film, which dropped just 44% despite last weekend’s overperformance.

Michael is now an unequivocal hit for Lionsgate with $183.8 million domestically and $423.9 million worldwide, with plenty more money to come. The film is already the #2 musical biopic of all-time behind only Bohemian Rhapsody, and it will pass that film’s $216.7 million domestic total with ease. Surpassing Rhapsody’s $911 million worldwide is less likely but even with a $155 million budget, this is a major hit.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie continues to roll, down 41% to $12.1 million in its fifth weekend. The blockbuster video game sequel passed a milestone as it rose to $402.7 million in the US and $894.2 million worldwide. That’s against a budget of $110 million so Universal and Illumination are ecstatic, obviously. The film hasn’t lost steam yet and looks likely to top $440 million domestically.

Project Hail Mary’s box office legs remain strong, with the sci-fi flick down just 33% in its seventh weekend with $8.6 million. The Ryan Gosling-led film has now grossed $318.3 million stateside and $638.4 million worldwide, a major profit for Amazon-MGM against a $190 million budget. $330 million remains its likely domestic final.

Horror filmmaker Damian McCarthy scored the best opening of his career with Hokum, which rolled into the #5 spot. The Neon-released film grossed $6.4 million, on the upper end of where it was expected to land. That’s far better than the opening weekend for his 2024 film Oddity, which started with $562,000 in July.

In fairness to Oddity, Hokum had a much higher profile start. The film, which again plays in McCarthy’s favorite subgenre of folk horror, came into the weekend with a fair amount of buzz from horror fans on the strength of its festival run. It also scored with critics (an 82% RT aggregate) and fans (82% RT audience rating, B CinemaScore).

So why so low? Well, it’s not low for the size of its release. But also, folk horror is not a subgenre built for blockbuster numbers. Neon knew what they were doing here and knew that they could make good money off a well-liked film that didn’t cost much. Hokum will have no direct competition until two weeks from now and should be able to get to at least $15 million domestically, which should be enough for profit against a $5 million production budget.

Angel Studios’ animated take on Animal Farm performed middlingly, taking in $3.4 million. The George Orwell adaptation, directed by Andy Serkis, got a low-profile release from the studio known for its faith-based films and is scoring neither with critics (25% on RT) nor fans (C- CinemaScore). It’s not going to make a profit in theaters against a reported $35 million production budget, but Angel will get solid returns when it hits home viewing.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy slipped 59% in its third weekend. The horror reimagining raked in another $2.2 million. While the Warner Bros. and Blumhouse production is fading about average for a horror film, it is already well into profit thanks to overseas numbers. The film has $27.4 million stateside and $80 million worldwide against a $22 million budget and should close out in the US around $32 million or so.

Shark attack thriller Deep Water came in at #8 with $2.2 million. That’s about where the film was expected to land. The Renny Harlin-directed film is doing well with both critics and fans at a 76% RT critic score, a 79% RT audience rating and a B CinemaScore.

Deep Water was distributed by Magenta Light Studios, who are still early in the distribution game but are slowly building their rep with genre fans (they released 2024 cult favorite Strange Darling as well). The film won’t last long in the top 10 but should do well on home viewing, where shark films often have long lives.

Anime film That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea opened in the #9 spot with $1 million. That’s a perfectly acceptable spot for this unwieldy-titled film, which is a standalone project set during the series’ third season. Sony Pictures is the distribution outlet for the movie, which opened a bit below the $1.5 million start of That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime: Scarlet Bond in 2022. Azure Sea will probably close out below $2 million domestically but it’s all extra for the studio anyway. It added $4.2 million overseas so far for $5.2 million worldwide.

The Drama closed out the top 10 with $908,000 in its fifth weekend. That’s off 65% from last weekend for the dark comedy, which has now grossed $46.9 million domestically and $104 million worldwide against a budget of just $28 million. A24 is very happy with how this one performed, and it’s looking like it will close around $50 million domestically.

Next week will see a new #1 as Mortal Kombat II targets an expected $50 million start. The Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour film is looking at around $10 million to $14 million, while Amazon-MGM’s The Sheep Detectives is looking in the same range.

Box Office Top Ten (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)

1. The Devil Wears Prada 2 – $77 million ($77 million total, $233.6 million WW)
2. Michael – $54 million ($183.8 million total, $423.9 million WW)
3. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – $12.1 million ($402.7 million total, $894.2 million WW)
4. Project Hail Mary – $8.6 million ($318.3 million total, $638.4 million WW)
5. Hokum – $6.4 million ($6.4 million total, $6.4 million WW)
6. Animal Farm – $3.4 million ($3.4 million total, $3.4 million WW)
7. Lee Cronin’s The Mummy – $2.3 million ($27.4 million total, $80 million WW)
8. Deep Water – $2.2 million ($2.2 million total, $2.2 million WW)
9. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea – $1 million ($1 million total, $5.2 million WW)
10. The Drama – $908,000 ($46.9 million total, $104 million WW)