Anne Hathaway is rumored to return for The Devil Wears Prada 2. (Image: Ron Adar / Alamy)
Fashionista film fans rejoiced this week after it was revealed The Devil Wears Prada is getting the sequel treatment.
Nearly 20 years after the original 2006 movie, based on the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger, hit the big screen, a follow-up film is said to be in the works with Disney.
The original movie brought Runway magazine and the publication’s no-nonsense editor Miranda Priestly into our lives.
Fox snapped up the work of author Weisberger, who had a short stint at Vogue magazine as editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s assistant, even before she had published the book, and the studio was so impressed they acquired it based on the first 100 pages and an outline.
It proved to be the correct decision, as the movie received two Academy Award nominations and thrived at the worldwide box office.
One of the main reasons for its success was no doubt Hollywood royalty Meryl Streep’s perfect portrayal of Priestly.
Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in a scene from “The Devil Wears Prada.” (Image: AJ Pics / Alamy)
According to Puck News, Streep is expected to reprise her role as the high-powered magazine editor in the sequel, and Emily Blunt is also due back as Priestly’s former assistant, Emily Charlton.
Anne Hathaway also put in an exquisite performance as Andy Sachs – Priestly’s brand-new assistant, in the original, but it’s not been revealed whether she will reprise her role for the sequel.
Hathaway’s French Fancy
Hathaway went into the part off the back of starring performances in the likes of The Princess Diaries and Brokeback Mountain, and she has been vocal about portraying Sachs since.
However, the actress distanced herself from a possible follow-up film in March by insisting Devil Wears Prada fans “don’t need to worry about a sequel”, despite Weisberger penning sequel novel Revenge Wears Prada.
She told E! News: “I don’t think a continuation of that story is probably ever going to happen. The truth of the matter is, with any film, all we can do is make it.”
“The reason that movie felt so special was that we were a team and we did that work, but really it’s the love that everybody pours into it. Let’s just keep the thing that we all agree with love.”
However, Hathaway did provide Devil Wears Prada fans with some hope, as the star admitted she “would love” to reunite with Streep, Blunt, and director David Frankel.
And in 2022, Hathaway told E! News: “I think Andy is in Paris and I think that she is writing for a wonderful French women’s magazine.”
“I think she’s a staff writer and she speaks French fluently. And I don’t think she’s married, but she might have a đ€đ©đȘđđ„ or two. I think she’s pretty fab.”
Hathaway is just 4/6 to reprise her role as Andy in the sequel, and it would be a big surprise if she didn’t make an appearance, even in a small cameo role from France.
Streep’s Oscars Chances
With Streep and Blunt seemingly confirmed for the new motion picture, original The Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna is said to be in talks about a return to pen the movie, according to Variety.
And, according to Puck, the Devil Wears Prada 2 will see Priestly facing the decline of her business. According to reports, Priestly requires Blunt’s alter-ego and the magazine editor’s former assistant, Charlton, to help her out.
Charlton is said to work at a luxury fashion group as a high-powered exec, and Priestly has an eye on some of their cash.
Whether that will be enough for the movie to land an Academy Award or not, time will tell, but the first film came close.
Streep earned a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance, and legendary costume designer Patricia Field received a Best Costume Design nod for the movie.
Sadly, the pair both missed out on Oscars for their work on the motion picture, but Streep looks set to get a second chance.
Despite her incredible performance first time around, it is 8/11 that the movie repeats the result of the first film and misses out on an Academy Award, while it’s just 11/8 that Devil Wears Prada 2 can claim an Oscar, and 5/1 it lands a hat-trick or more.
Sequels Shine At the Box Office
While it will be tough for the sequel to win an Oscar, it might be easier to outdo the first film at the worldwide box office.
Devil Wears Prada grossed $326.7 million worldwide in 2006, from a $41 million budget, which made it the 12th highest-grossing movie worldwide that year.
What’s more, sequels have performed extremely well at the worldwide box office this year, with Inside Out 2 currently topping the charts with a staggering $1.2 billion after just four weekendsâmaking it the fifth-best animated release of all timeâwhile Dune: Part Two has grossed $711.8 million worldwide and even Kung Fu Panda 4 ($544.7 million) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die ($361.8 million) have impressed.
Devil Wears Prada 2 will likely have a much bigger budget the second time around, with a chunk of that potentially going to Streep if the first film is anything to go by.
The actress previously revealed that she asked for more money to play Priestly before signing on the dotted line.
She told Variety: “The offer was, to my mind, slightly, if not insulting, not perhaps reflective of my actual value to the project.
“There was my ‘goodbye moment,’ and then they doubled the offer. I was 55, and I had just learned, at a very late date, how to deal on my own behalf.”
Devil Wears Prada 2 is 1/2 to outdo its original’s worldwide box office total, and that’s almost as safe a bet as Hathaway is to feature in the sequel.