Weekend Preview: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Hits On Maintenance Over Growth

A legacy sequel? For summer? Groundbreaking. Summer movie season has begun. Michael over-performed like a blockbuster (as we expected). The return of Miranda Priestly is set to similarly open big. But how does one measure the enthusiasm for The Devil Wears Prada 2 against the metrics of a four-quadrant blockbuster?

The recent successes of Wicked, Wicked: For Good, The Housemaid, Wuthering Heights, and even Michael have been driven by female turnout. However, in analyzing possible turnout, one has to first look at the scope of enthusiasm among the reached audience. With  a female-skewing marketing campaign, the enthusiasm within the Aware crowd will determine whether this fashion-forward sequel’s success resembles the financial profile of  BookTok films, mid-tier legacy sequel Freakier Friday, or blockbuster breakout Wicked.

Theatrical Intent among audiences aware of a movie is key. For any film with a moderate level of awareness, the  goal is to produce a roughly  60% theatrical intent rate. This helps ensure a properly targeted audience. Once overall awareness reaches  astronomical levels (such as 70% or higher), maintaining the rate becomes more difficult. Titles that do go on to become high-openers. 

For Prada 2, overall Awareness, Interest, and Intent among its target female demographic has  never been in question. Each has already achieved and maintained blockbuster-levels from  early on and throughout its final six pre-release weeks. As opening day approaches, awareness experienced the most significant gains. But growth is not a one-size fits all pattern. While films like Project Hail Mary rise from a niche audience to a crowdpleaser, Prada 2 has shown growth  by stabilizing its enthusiasm among  its target audience.

Across its full tracking, The Devil Wears Prada 2 generated female awareness heights r only previously seen in Wicked: For Good. However, signs of a notable performance came from  theatrical Intent among aware audiences. In other words, those that  actually plan to see the film in theaters. At six weeks from release, Prada 2 rose in both Awareness and Intent among Aware from women of all ages, reaching the golden 60% rate among the 64% of women who were aware of the film. Within the final weeks, Prada 2 stabilized this Intent among Aware rate even as female awareness grew overall. Within its final pre-release week, the film boasted  a higher total group of women that were both aware and theater-ready. 

A general tracking caveat that gets lost in translation: A viewer who is aware may not always actually see the film. For films big and small, the funnel almost always narrows from awareness to interest to theatrical intent. One of the keys to success is to reduce the rate  of loss from the target audience while building up a secure, aware, and enthusiastic audience for turnout. 

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in good company with its target female demographic. Its ratio of Intentful, Aware women to overall Aware women sits comfortably between the ratios of Wicked: For Good and recent release Michael, whose opening weekend was dominated by women at 61%. Signs are pointing to a female-led opening weekend doubleheader. 

The Devil Wears Prada 2 already has the metrics for success, but achieving that success comes from its stabilization of enthusiasm amidst awareness growth. Maintaining similar rates of Intent among a growing aware audience achieves as significant growth as increasing the general rate of Intent overall. With a good section of Prada 2’s target audience locked in, and Michael once again proving the power of an enthusiastic female audience, Summer 2026 is about to potentially kick off with a streak thanks to target audience enthusiasm.