"The Devil Wears Prada 2" has grossed $676 million worldwide, pushing the franchise past $1 billion when combined with the original 2004 film's $326 million haul [1]. Disney spent about $100 million to make the sequel and $80 million to market it, and will turn a tidy profit [1].

It is the control case for the weekend's cheap-hits ledger. While a roughly $200 million toy adaptation cratered the same weekend, a wanted legacy brand kept selling: the sequel opened in early May to $77 million domestically — nearly three times the original's start — and has held to stand as the year's fourth-highest-grossing worldwide release [1]. Reviving a beloved property does not guarantee box office; Variety notes that "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," "Karate Kid: Legends," and "Zoolander 2" all learned otherwise [1].

On X, the reflex is "Hollywood is out of ideas," posted between ticket purchases. The receipts say something narrower. The film reunited Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci and, per Variety, succeeded "not just by leaning into nostalgia but by making the story relevant for today" [1]. The variable is affection, not nostalgia volume — and on that measure, a movie audiences actually wanted lapped a mandated one.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles