The Devil Wears Prada 2

• 1. Introduction

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  The Devil Wears Prada 2 collected 181.5 million views for its first teaser trailer in just 24 hours, reportedly the most for any comedy trailer in 15 years. That teaser appeared on the 12th of November 2025. It promoted a 2026 American comedy drama directed by David Frankel and written by Aline Brosh McKenna. The film is a sequel to the 2006 hit The Devil Wears Prada, and it brings back Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci. The story jumps ahead two decades. For years, though, a sequel looked unlikely. This documentary asks how the reunion finally happened and what it cost. It asks what becomes of a glossy fashion magazine in a world where hardly anyone reads the print edition. And it asks why film crews, critics and online commenters all found so much to argue about.

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• 2. Reluctant Stars

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  In 2013, the novelist Lauren Weisberger published Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns, a follow-up to her 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada, which had inspired the 2006 film. Nobody rushed to adapt it. Streep reportedly said she was not interested in a sequel. Hathaway said she would rather work with the same people on "something totally different".

  The mood changed in July 2024, when it was reported that Walt Disney Studios, the parent division of 20th Century Studios, wanted to develop a follow-up. Negotiations began that same month. McKenna would return to write the screenplay, and the four leading actors would reprise their roles. Frankel came back as director.

  The studio allotted a budget of $100 million, almost triple the cost of the original film before adjusting for inflation. Frankel said that most of the difference came from actors' salaries. In his telling, the filmmakers had "basically the same budget for making the movie as we did the first one."

  The pay itself became part of the story. Streep, Hathaway and Blunt were later revealed to have pay parity, each receiving $12.5 million upfront. They also received backends tied to the film's performance, which could push each total beyond $20 million. Announcements about the new characters would trickle out from that July until November 2025.

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• 3. Runway in Trouble

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  Two decades after leaving her job as an assistant at Runway magazine, Andrea "Andy" Sachs is a respected reporter in New York City. Then her entire newsroom is laid off by text message in the middle of an awards gala.

  Her old boss, Miranda Priestly, has troubles of her own. Miranda is under fire for publishing a puff piece about a brand that uses sweatshop labor. Irv Ravitz owns Elias-Clarke, the company that publishes Runway. He responds by hiring Andy as features editor without asking Miranda, who is annoyed.

  Miranda herself seems diminished. She is listless, and complaints to human resources have blunted her imperiousness, although some of her tyrannical habits survive. At home, she enjoys a comfortable relationship with her husband, Stuart, played by Kenneth Branagh.

  Nigel, her longtime right-hand man, played by Tucci, spells out the new reality. Nobody reads the print edition of Runway anymore. To protect profits and keep advertisers happy, the brand has embraced online clickbait and cheaply made short-form content.

  Dior is one key advertiser, and Emily Charlton now works there. She once assisted Miranda in the years when Andy did too. Emily uses the sweatshop controversy to win a puff piece of her own, and Miranda assigns it to Andy. During the interview, the two women argue about how modern fashion inflates prices and shuts out middle-class shoppers.

  Andy's serious articles gain little traction. She improves her standing by brokering an interview with Sasha Barnes, the reclusive divorcée of a Silicon Valley billionaire. Meanwhile, Irv promises Miranda a promotion within Elias-Clarke. A heart attack at his 75th birthday party kills him before he can announce it.

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• 4. The Fight for Runway

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  Jay Ravitz, Irv's son, inherits the Elias-Clarke publications, and he has none of his father's sentimental attachment to fashion or to Runway. He puts Miranda's promotion on hold and brings in management consultants to recommend cost cuts. To Andy's surprise, Miranda bears it quietly.

  Andy's private life frays at the same time. Her new boyfriend, Peter, grows cold after she unintentionally insults his work as an apartment renovator while fretting about her own job. A publisher then offers her a lucrative contract for a tell-all book about Miranda. Andy is conflicted.

  Milan Fashion Week supplies the turning point. Nigel throws what may be his last big Runway gala, starring Lady Gaga. Andy devises a rescue plan: persuade a wealthy patron to buy the magazine from Jay. The patron turns out to be Benji, Sasha's ex-husband and Emily's current boyfriend.

  Miranda is furious when Andy and Emily reveal the plan, because she knows Emily intends to take her position. She admits she pushed Emily out of Runway years ago since Emily lacks creative vision. Then Benji describes his plan to replace the staff with AI, and Miranda is alarmed.

  She directs Andy to find a competing buyer. Andy persuades Sasha to purchase not only Runway but all of Elias-Clarke, and Jay accepts, abandoning his deal with Benji. Miranda realizes she has taken Nigel for granted. She invites him to give the gala's keynote speech in her place, freeing her and Andy to close the deal. Sasha then grants Miranda the promotion Irv had promised.

  Back in New York, Miranda tells Andy that her idealism inspired the fight. She also admits she knew about the tell-all book and urges Andy to write it, unflattering parts included. Andy makes up with Peter and with Emily, who has broken up with Benji. Miranda gives Andy a nicer office and returns to work with renewed imperiousness. One last reveal belongs to Nigel, who confesses that he was the one who prompted Irv to rehire Andy, simply because he has always liked her.

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• 5. Crowds and Cameras

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  Principal photography began on the 30th of June 2025, with Frankel directing and Kenneth Branagh joining the cast. In July, the studio announced that Tracie Thoms and Tibor Feldman would return in their original roles. Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B. J. Novak, Pauline Chalamet, Rachel Bloom and Patrick Brammall joined as new faces. In October, Lady Gaga was announced, and Donatella Versace was seen filming a cameo. By November, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Conrad Ricamora and Calum Harper had been added too.

  Streep, Hathaway and Tucci were spotted filming in Manhattan during the week of the 21st of July 2025, and Blunt appeared a week later. Brammall and Hathaway were seen shooting a scene together on the 5th of August. Two days later, Sydney Sweeney was spotted on set with Blunt. She was meant to cameo as herself, but in April 2026 it emerged that she had been cut from the finished film.

  An important airport scene was shot at Newark on the 10th of September. On the 27th of September, Tucci and Streep filmed at Dolce & Gabbana's Milan Fashion Week show. Filming in Milan ran from the 6th to the 18th of October. Ashley finished her scenes on the 17th of October, and filming officially wrapped on the 20th of October.

  Social media reports of shoots drew onlookers, something that had not happened with the first film. Production designer Jess Gonchor, who also returned from the original, called the scene at the American Museum of Natural History "a mob scene". The museum again stood in for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Luckily, the scene needed a crowd anyway.

  Another large crowd gathered in the Meatpacking District to watch Andy board the Hampton Jitney. Gonchor said it was "pretty special to see people embracing the movie like that" and that it made everyone "feel like the Beatles." Overzealous paparazzi were a different matter. They fought among themselves during one scene, and Hathaway and Tucci broke character.

  Gonchor, meanwhile, was busy on a project far larger than anything the first film attempted.

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• 6. Sets and Locations

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  Gonchor told Architectural Digest that the Runway offices, again built at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, were eight times larger this time. The original had only suggested the space. Of the new design he said, "We opened the whole thing up so it wasn't just about Miranda and the assistants." The former McGraw-Hill building at 1221 Avenue of the Americas once more served as the exterior and lobby of the Elias-Clarke building. A large room became a cafeteria.

  The title itself unlocked doors. In Gonchor's words, "Saying the words 'The Devil Wears Prada' opened a lot of doors for us this time around." The crew filmed in the Dior boutique at 57th Street and Madison Avenue before it opened. They also shot in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria hotel, which had been closed for six years of renovations. Newly opened space in the Hudson Yards development became Emily's office. Marc Jacobs let the production into his fitting rooms, and the crew obtained permission to use the same townhouse that served as Miranda's home in the first film.

  Milan was stitched together from several places. Manhattan's Woolworth Mansion stood in for the interiors of the Milan hotel rooms. The Palazzo Parigi & Grand Spa Milano, where the cast stayed, lent its exterior and lobby, and Tucci and Theroux enjoyed martinis there between scenes. Lady Gaga's appearance was first planned for the Piazza del Duomo. It moved to the Accademia di Brera to stop word of it spreading.

  The dinner scene in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie was filmed on a set built to three-quarters scale. It included a hand-painted copy of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, made by craftspeople led by a woman who manages set design for a Roman opera house. Since the real painting was off limits, Gonchor said, "we had to really study that thing." Private tours let a handful of people take their time, with no crowds.

  For Benji's villa, Gonchor chose Villa del Balbiano on Lake Como after a lengthy boat tour. Emily and Benji arrive by boat, so he wanted the house to be seen from the water as well. Lady Gaga's presence in Milan would carry beyond the screen and into the film's music.

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• 7. Selling the Sequel

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  The marketing campaign began with a debate about color. After the teaser appeared, commenters in social media and the press complained about the film's grading and lighting. They called it the "Netflix look", meaning standardized colors and lost contrast that produce a smooth, flat image. The first full trailer arrived on the 1st of February 2026 and drew 222 million views in 24 hours. 20th Century Studios called it the most-viewed trailer in its history.

  In April 2026, Anna Wintour, the former editor-in-chief of Vogue and the purported inspiration for Streep's Miranda Priestly, appeared on the cover of the magazine alongside the actress. Later that month, Streep and Hathaway traveled to South Korea and took part in an interview with the singer Jang Won-young. The campaign was reportedly one of the largest promotional efforts Disney has ever undertaken. The Hollywood Reporter put its promotional value at $250 million. Partners included Dior, Google, The Coca-Cola Company, Grey Goose, Mercedes-Benz, L'Oréal, Zillow, TRESemmé and United Airlines.

  The soundtrack album came out through 20th Century Studios and Interscope Records on the same day as the film's North American debut. Its lead single, "Runway" by Lady Gaga and Doechii, was previewed in the second trailer on the 6th of April 2026 and released on the 9th. Lady Gaga added "Shape of a Woman", which she performs in the film, and "Glamorous Life". A separate score-only album by Theodore Shapiro, returning from the first film, has 20 tracks and runs 39 minutes.

  The film premiered at Lincoln Center in New York City on the 20th of April 2026, with a live stream on Disney+ and Hulu. London held a premiere two days later, and Tokyo followed at Roppongi Hills on the 24th. United States theaters got the film on the 1st of May 2026. Disney had originally given that date to Avengers: Doomsday, but moved Prada 2 into it after the film was fast-tracked during production.

  Forecasts for the American opening weekend ranged from $75-80 million across 4,150 theaters, with some estimates near $100 million. Opening day brought $32.5 million, including $10 million from Thursday previews. The weekend ended at $76.7 million, topping the box office. The original film had opened to $27.5 million in 2006, so the sequel nearly tripled it, or doubled it after inflation. It was the fourth-biggest debut of 2026 and Streep's best domestic opening, beating the $90 million start of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again from 2018.

  Overseas, analysts expected about $100 million from 35 countries. The film earned $27.5 million internationally on its first day, for $114.6 million worldwide, the best opening day of 2026 in 16 countries. Its international weekend reached $156.6 million, for a global total of $233.6 million. Only The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, at $372.5 million, opened bigger among 2026 Motion Picture Association releases. Streep and Blunt both set personal records for global and international openings, beating Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Oppenheimer from 2023 respectively.

  The run ended at $209.3 million in the United States and Canada and $432.8 million elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $642.1 million. That made it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2026.

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• 8. Praise, Pans and Protest

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  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A-minus on a scale running from A+ to F. The first film had earned a B.

  Critics were generally positive. Justin Chang of The New Yorker wrote that the film is "selling a truckload of preposterous goods, but it sells them awfully well, with unfeigned assurance, conviction, and the appropriate ratio of cynicism to hope." David Sims of The Atlantic found "plenty of breezy fun probing the dilemmas of modern media, without abandoning the glitz that made the original so enduring." Odie Henderson of The Boston Globe said Miranda gets more depth and that journalists now have a bigger villain to hiss at. Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent wrote that the film "hits painfully home" on job insecurity.

  Others were cooler. Moira MacDonald of The Seattle Times called it "flat champagne", with Hathaway and Blunt a particular pleasure. Randy Myers of The Mercury News felt it "came off the rack before it was ready." Jehanna Schneller of The Globe and Mail wrote that it "has zero idea what it's about" and found its social commentary soft and inconsistent. Saul Sugarman of The Bold Italic argued that with twenty years gone, "there's no drama left to mine, only product to sell."

  A sharper dispute began on the 16th of April 2026, when 20th Century Studios posted a clip on its YouTube channel. It showed Andy with her assistant, Jin Chao, played by the Chinese-American actress Helen J. Shen. Observers said the character's name resembled a racial slur historically used to mock the Chinese language and people. They also objected to her dowdy clothing and glasses and to her reciting her academic achievements, which they read as the "nerdy bookworm" stereotype. The name was first misreported on social media as "Chin Chou", closer to the slur, which fueled anger particularly in East Asia. The Asian American Foundation called it "unfortunate that offensive stereotypes continue to color how Asian American communities are perceived today, whether spread intentionally or not."

  McKenna answered that Jin Chao was named after a childhood friend and is a "very dimensional character". She called her a love letter to the Gen Z assistants she has had. The Korean-American filmmaker Joseph Kahn pushed back on the criticism. He said the outfit was "very couture in a film about fashion" and that the glasses and hair clips were of the moment.

  Italy raised a smaller complaint, about the dubbed version. Every Italian actor who dubbed the original returned for the sequel, but some viewers were unhappy. Maria Pia Di Meo, Streep's Italian voice in film after film for many years, was 86, ten years older than Streep. Some said she sounded distinctly older than Miranda looked. Lines also ran longer in Italian than in English, so the speech drifted out of sync with the actors' mouths. Even so, the dubbing cast had come back as faithfully as the English-language stars did.

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