Maybe Stick With Sequels to Films That Audiences Liked?
I'd prefer almost no nostalgia-skewing IP revivals, but 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' shows the obvious commercial value in prioritizing films that were actually popular and successful.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened with $76.75 million, netting the biggest domestic opening for an early-May tentpole that isn’t a Marvel or MCU movie ever. Even adjusted for inflation, it’s the third-biggest such opening in 25 years, behind The Mummy Returns ($68 million in 2001/$131 million adjusted) and Mission: Impossible III ($48 million in 2006/$83 million adjusted). Whether you count Michael or Devil 2 as the actual 2026 summer kick-off flick, one of these two most recent tentpoles just set a new record for a non-Marvel summer kick-off movie. Meanwhile, beyond the obvious lessons (movies about women are not box office poison, actually), I wanted to focus on one… somewhat critical takeaway.
Alongside noting that big movies about women don’t need men to show up while big male-skewing films often depend upon at least some gender parity, it’s also worth remembering that The Devil Wears Prada was a zeitgeist-defining success that overperformed at the box office, earning $124 million domestically and $327 million worldwide in the summer of 2006 on a $35 million budget. It also relied on actors (Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci) who were (if only decades later) willing to reprise their fan-favorite roles even (or because of) being more famous and popular than they were at the time. And yes, a follow-up still qualifies as a demographically specific event movie.
Even in an industry ever more obsessed with IP in the abstract, that should be an obvious checklist. And yet The Devil Wears Prada 2 almost stands out because its original was popular and successful upon release. Look, I would otherwise prefer not to have any such generational nostalgia plays or attempts to turn a singular one-and-done hit into a replenishable franchise or IP. But if such a thing must exist, better to be a film (like the 2003 Freaky Friday remake) or a property (like the 2000s Wayan Bros.-directed Scary Movie series) that was actually popular at the time, rather than a previously failed IP that conventional wisdom says should be popular with moviegoers.
