By Luke Mantle
Twenty years after Miranda Priestly first sneered “florals? for spring?”, Hollywood has brought The Devil Wears Prada back from the dead.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 opened to a staggering £175 million globally, with £58 million in North America alone, making it one of the biggest openings for a female-led comedy sequel in years. In an industry currently obsessed with superheroes and action spin-offs, the success of a sequel about magazine editors in stilettos feels oddly refreshing.
The original film came out in 2006, when glossy fashion magazines were exclusively linked to the bourgeoisie. The sequel leans heavily into that nostalgia, dropping Andy Sachs and Miranda Priestly into a world where print journalism is collapsing and fashion is dictated by TikTok.
Critics have been surprisingly warm towards the sequel. Rotten Tomatoes’ round-up of reviews described the film as “funny” and “heartfelt”, even if several reviewers admitted it lacks the bite of the original. The Guardian called the opening weekend “stunning”, noting that the film’s audience was primarily female.
Not all reviews were this positive though. In a brutal review, The Times argued the sequel feels sanitised and overly cautious, accusing it of sanding down Miranda Priestly’s sharpest edges for a more HR-friendly era. Which, to be fair, is probably unavoidable in 2026.
Still, audiences seem less interested in whether the sequel is necessary and more invested in simply seeing these characters again. Part of the appeal is also that The Devil Wears Prada has quietly become one of those films people endlessly rewatch. It sits in the same cultural category as Mean Girls or Mamma Mia!.
Maybe audiences missed seeing characters who are allowed to be ridiculous and slightly horrible. Or maybe everyone simply wanted to hear Miranda Priestly insult someone in a beautifully tailored coat one more time.
Either way, the box office numbers suggest that 20 years later, the Devil still rocks Prada.
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