👠 The Devil Wears Prada Becomes a Billion-Dollar Franchise
As Disney prepares to rewrite box office records with the upcoming premiere of Pixar’s Toy Story 5, the media giant has another reason to celebrate. The iconic fashion franchise, owned by its subsidiary 20th Century Studios, has crossed the $1 billion milestone in cumulative global box office receipts.
The primary driver of this milestone is the sequel, The Devil Wears Prada 2. In its seventh week in worldwide theaters, the film brought its cumulative gross to $676 million, with $217.9 million generated in the domestic US market. Given that the feature carried a $100 million production budget (excluding marketing costs), the project has already delivered a massive windfall for the studio. For comparison, the original 2006 comedy concluded its theatrical run with $326.5 million.
Disney’s bet on nostalgia has paid off completely. The studio’s leadership took a bold step by breaking with the tradition of kicking off the summer blockbuster season with a Marvel feature, choosing instead to launch the high-fashion sequel on May 1.
The results shattered expectations: the opening frame delivered a staggering $233 million worldwide, and within just nine days of domestic release, the sequel surpassed the original film’s lifetime US box office haul ($124.7 million). To date, The Devil Wears Prada 2 holds the fourth spot on the list of the highest-grossing global releases of 2026.
The sequel’s international box office currently stands at $458.1 million, up from the original’s $201.8 million. The United Kingdom emerged as the top overseas market, bringing in $45.8 million. The film caused a true sensation in Italy, where it grossed $37.3 million to become the country’s highest-grossing foreign release. Other top-performing international territories include Germany ($33.2 million), Brazil ($33.2 million), Japan ($31.9 million), Australia ($29.5 million), Mexico ($29.4 million), and France ($26.9 million).
Source: Deadline
