Miranda Priestly Flies Coach: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Reckons with a Crumbling Media Empire

Key facts

• ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ opens the 2025 summer movie season on the first weekend of May, replacing the delayed ‘Avengers: Doomsday’.
• The film is projected to earn at least $70 million in domestic ticket sales during its opening weekend.
• Action/adventure films accounted for only 35% of top-100 box office receipts in 2025, the lowest share since 2010.
• Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) now hangs up her own coat after an HR complaint and flies coach.
• Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired as Runway’s features editor after being laid off from her journalism job via text.
• Corporate raiders Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux) and a media-dynasty scion (B. J. Novak) seek to buy Runway.
• The sequel features cameos by Lady Gaga, Donatella Versace, and a cloud of New York media elites.

A Fall from Olympus: Miranda’s Micro-Indignities

In ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ Miranda Priestly no longer flings her coat at trembling lackeys. She hangs it up herself, wincing from the strain—a sign of age and humiliation. Even her mid-meeting insults have lost their serrated edge, dulled by years of HR wrist-slaps. The opening scene reveals a rare editorial lapse that tables her dream of promotion to the top ranks of Elias-Clarke. The magazine itself is a shadow of its former self, battered by corporate consolidation and downsizing. How bad has it gotten? Miranda Priestly now flies coach. The sequel, directed by David Frankel and written by Aline Brosh McKenna, unfolds as a series of micro-indignities—a plunge from her Olympian perch, one stumble at a time.

Andy Sachs: From Investigative Reporter to Runway’s Features Editor

Andy Sachs, once the ugly duckling turned swan, abandoned fashion for a career as an investigative reporter at a hard-hitting outlet called The Vanguard. Early in the film, she and her colleagues are unceremoniously sacked via text message—a culling that echoes recent journalistic bloodbaths like the gutting of the Washington Post. With suspiciously fortuitous timing, Andy is snapped up as Runway’s new features editor. Irv Ravitz (Tibor Feldman), the Si Newhouse-esque head of Elias-Clarke, hopes Andy will salvage the publication’s credibility after Miranda’s bungle. Miranda scarcely remembers Andy, vehemently opposes her hiring, and waits with sadistic patience for her to fail. Andy pens a bracing mea culpa about Runway’s endorsement of a fast-fashion brand built on sweatshop labor, which The New York Times calls “a bracing mea culpa.”

The Core Trio Reconfigured: Nigel, Emily, and New Allies

Stanley Tucci returns as Nigel, Miranda’s unfailingly loyal consigliere, who never butchers a bon mot or wears the same pocket square twice. Emily Blunt reprises her role as Emily Charlton, now overseeing luxury retail at Dior, a position that allows her to exact revenge on her old boss. The next generation of assistants—deftly played by Helen J. Shen, Simone Ashley, and Caleb Hearon—supports Andy in her struggle. Andy gets a decent if colorless new love interest, Australian architect Peter (Patrick Brammall), who designed a high-end apartment block. Even Miranda has found stability with her latest husband (Kenneth Branagh). “Boy, I love working,” Miranda coos, and in Streep’s sudden smile, actor and character merge into one.

The Death of Journalism and the Rise of Tech Billionaires

The sequel laments a world where Runway’s sky-high budgets are unsustainable, lavish shoots elicit little more than a scroll, and Miranda’s judgments go unheeded. Two corporate raiders—a mercenary media-dynasty scion (B. J. Novak) and a vacuous tech bro, Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux)—will determine Runway’s future. Barnes, basically Jeff Bezos with hair, attempts to buy the magazine as a toy for his calculating new girlfriend. In her acceptance speech for a journalism award, Andy rips into the familiar story of a media company taking a $500 million write-down while its CEO’s take-home the previous year was $11 million. Her impassioned outpouring goes viral. The film, an incestuous weave of fiction and reality, is stuffed with cameos including Lady Gaga, Donatella Versace, and a cloud of New York media elites.

Box Office Shift: Prada 2 Replaces Superheroes as Summer Opener

For the first time in two decades, the first weekend in May does not feature a superhero movie. Walt Disney swapped in ‘Prada 2’ when the filmmakers of ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ needed more time. The move is expected to pay off with a strong opening, coinciding with a decline in box office power for action films. In 2025, action/adventure movies accounted for 35% of ticket sales from the top 100 films, the lowest share since 2010. Family films and horror movies are on the rise, with recent hits including ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘Zootopia 2,’ and ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie.’ Theatre owners say genre popularity is cyclical. “We need more dramas and comedies,” said Greg Marcus, president and CEO of The Marcus Corporation. “They say nobody goes to dramas or comedies anymore. It’s because they aren’t actually making anything in those genres to go to.”

A Fairy Tale with Stakes: The Sequel’s Savvy Satire

McKenna, working without the safety net of direct source material, has composed a shiny soap-bubble satire of a doom-laden cultural and journalistic landscape. The film continually undercuts its own self-intoxication, lamenting a world where Runway’s standards are unsustainable. The stakes have never been higher: Andy now has to save a crumbling media empire almost single-handedly. Through Andy’s eyes, we come to believe that even the gargantuan excesses of Runway are worth defending against the encroaching tyranny of know-nothing billionaire vulgarians. “You’re much more confident,” Emily tells her. No longer one to wither under her boss’s scornful gaze, Andy becomes an ever more formidable ally. The film suggests that as industries and their titans are brought low, the best we can ask for is the satisfaction of doing good work and the lasting friendships we may forge along the way.

The bottom line

• Miranda Priestly’s power has been curbed by HR complaints and a rare editorial lapse, forcing her to fly coach.
• Andy Sachs returns to Runway as features editor after being laid off from her journalism job, tasked with saving the magazine’s credibility.
• The sequel replaces a superhero movie as the summer box office opener, reflecting a decline in action film dominance.
• Tech billionaires and media scions threaten to buy Runway, mirroring real-world corporate consolidation.
• The film critiques the death of journalism and the hollowing out of media, with Andy’s viral speech highlighting CEO pay disparities.
• Despite its glossy surface, the movie offers a savvy satire of unsustainable luxury and the value of good work and friendship.