For nearly two decades, Marvel superhero pics have more often than not kicked off the summer box office, which begins the first weekend in May. This year, Avengers: Doomsday was supposed to continue that tradition but when it became clear the tentpole wouldn’t be ready in time, top Disney movie studio executives were in a quandary as they gathered in a conference room at the Team Disney building on the Burbank lot that is famously propped up by the seven dwarves. Who could be their new prop be?

It was Disney movie boss Alan Bergman who came up with a novel idea: What if they turned conventional wisdom on its head and instead tapped 20^th Century’s dramedy The Devil Wears Prada 2 to open summer? After all, the first The Devil Wears Prada became a hero of early summer 2006 when daring to open opposite DC and Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. Prada, costing just $40 million to produce, amassed a stunning $326 million in ticket sales, while Superman Returns topped out at $391 million globally against a hefty budget north of $240 million.

Prada, starring Anne Hathaway as an aspiring young journalist who takes a job as an assistant to the cutthroat and eviscerating editor of leading fashion magazine Runway, turned into a cultural touchstone. Moreover, it proved Hollywood studio heads who ignore the buying power of females do so at their own peril. The dismissive term “chick flick” was stricken from the lexicon, while Streep earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Miranda Priestly and Hathaway’s turn as Andy Sachs made her a bona fide movie star. It also put Emily Blunt, who plays the No. 1 assistant, on the map, while Stanley Tucci became another fan favorite.

But to successfully sell a sequel 20 years after the events of the first film was beyond daunting, even with Streep, Hathaway, Blunt and Tucci on board to return, along with director David Frankel and writer Aline Brosh McKenna. Much has changed in the intervening years. Legacy print media is an endangered species, including the once-invincible Condé Nast empire, owner of Vogue and numerous other premier publications.

Yet Disney’s marketing team more than succeeded in designing a next-level campaign that the studio says is one of the biggest in the company’s history in terms of scope and the largest when it comes to the number of official brand partnerships, whose contributions are valued at $250 million, THR has exclusively learned.

The campaign was spearheaded by Martha Morrison, head of marketing at Disney Entertainment Studios, and Lylle Breier, executive VP of partnerships, promotions and events. They both report to Asad Ayaz, who ran marketing at the movie studio during its most successful run in modern times before taking on additional duties when the pandemic decimated the box office. Earlier this year, after the film studio more than reclaimed its status as market leader, Ayaz was promoted to the C-Suite level, where he serves as chief brand and marketing officer for the entire conglomerate. At the same time, he remains intimately involved on the movie side, including the Prada 2 campaign.

Breier and Morrison recently gave The Hollywood Reporter an insiders’ view of how they sold Prada 2, which is fast becoming the biggest female-fueled movie since Warner Bros.’ Barbie in 2023. In under two weeks, the $100 million sequel has already eclipsed the entire lifetime run of its 2006 predecessor after finishing Mother’s Day weekend with a global total through May 11 of $433.2 million, including $144.8 million domestically and a mighty $288.4 million at the foreign box office. To boot, it beat Mortal Kombat II in a surprise upset domestically after falling just 43 percent in its second weekend. And the drop was only 46 percent overseas. For any studio, the second weekend decline is the true bellwether of whether a film is becoming a water-cooler sensation.

For the marketing team, Prada‘s May 5 release date couldn’t have been more opportune. Immediately following its opening weekend, the movie’s stars and other actors making cameos in the film, including Lady Gaga, continued to make headlines around the world when attending the Met Gala on May 4 (the famous annual gathering is featured in the first film, but not in the second). And to have Mother’s Day falling on its second weekend was another key advantage.

The 2006 film, from Elizabeth Gabler’s long-since shuttered Fox 2000 label, was based on Lauren Weisberger’s thinly veiled tell-all book about her stint working for Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who would have nothing to do with the first Prada movie; ditto for most fashion houses or other luxury brands who were terrified of irking Wintour, the ultimate OG influencer.

That was hardly the case this time, as Disney was flooded with requests from dozens of companies.

“The partnership campaigns are incomparable to anything we’ve done before,” says Breier. That’s quite a statement considering Disney is home to Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation and 20th Century’s Avatar. “We set out to have it be the best marketing partnership program that’s ever launched, and I think even delivered it ahead of a movie like Avengers,” she continued.

Both Morrison and Breier say the biggest difference between a film like Prada and Avengers, or even Avatar, is that the story takes place in the current world. “This movie lives at the intersection of fashion, media and pop culture. So we were able to have a marketing program celebrating that,” Breier says. “Fashion is art and people love beautiful things.”

High-impact Prada partners ran the gamut, from Dior — which plays a key role in the sequel — to Google, the Coca-Cola Company, which did huge Prada campaigns for both Diet Coke and Smartwater, Grey Goose, Mercedes-Benz, cosmetic giant L’Oréal Paris and its subsidiary luxury line Lancôme, Zillow, TRESemmé and United Airlines, among numerous others.

The first trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 generated more than 222 million views in its first 24 hours in February to become the most-watched trailer in 20th Century’s history. While it was certainly cause for celebration, Morrison knew from the outset that the biggest challenge in terms of reaching the broadest audience possible would be winning over members of Gen Z and younger Millennials, who make up the two most important moviegoing demos. “We saw there was significantly strong interest among those 35 and older. The goal of figuring out the 18-to-24 and 25-34 age groups was a priority, and I think from the beginning of tracking ’till now, we have made an incredible amount of progress.”

She’s not wrong. On its first Friday, the largest quadrant of ticket buyers (29 percent) was between ages 25 and 34 — a group that is divided evenly between older Gen Z members and younger Millennials — while those between ages 18 and 24 was 11 percent.

In the parlance of movie marketing, there is paid media, i.e., what the studio shells out. Then there’s “earned media,” i.e, the value of content created by brand partners and the ad time they buy. But no longer is it just about product placement; such content can be used to launch or promote new merchandising lines by tailoring content or activations to target a certain demo. That’s a double-win for Disney, where Morrison was using publicity and the film’s stars to spark interest.

The parallel efforts were on full display at this year’s 98th Academy Awards ceremony, where Hathaway and Wintour presented together and riffed on the first movie. And L’Oréal Paris kicked off its Prada campaign with an Oscar ad featuring global brand ambassadors Kendall Jenner and Simone Ashley, who stars as an assistant in the sequel. The spot, in which Jenner is jokingly mistaken for a new assistant candidate for Miranda Priestly, went viral and was clearly targeting the younger set.

And Lancôme, which was the movie’s official signature skin-care partner, used the film to launch its new “Age is Nothing But a Number ” Longevity MD Products line. In a now-famous spot, Prada 2 co-stars Caleb Hearon and Pauline Chalamet — yes, she is Timothée Chalamet’s sister and was his date at the Oscars — reprise their roles for the film as they desperately try to appease their boss and track down the new product line. And, in a second cross-promotional spot, Chalamet runs into Lancôme global brand ambassador Isabella Rossellini, who plays an Amanda Priestly-type figure asking if she’s wearing the new product.

“We wanted everything to be funny and bespoke,” says Breier, who worked closely with the brand partners on the cross-promotions. “But again, one of the things we really tried hard to do is not give away the movie, or have the brand spots use a ton of movie footage, but instead be part of the world.”

Not once is the new Lancôme product line, which debuted May 1, seen in the film. Product placement was not the point; nor was it even guaranteed in the contract with Disney, Lancôme gm Ramzy Burns said in recent article. It is the first time the luxury brand has ever been an official partner on a Hollywood pic. “What was important was all the intellectual property we [got] to use and being able to film on the set, as well behind the scenes,” Burns said. “It has to be inclusive of everything — characters, plots, culture. The first Devil Wears Prada was about a makeover, glamour, things like that. The sequel is more focused on icons elevating their power, their relevancy or their vitality over decades.”

Other brands who aren’t official partners rushed to hire those involved with the film to promote their own Prada 2 merchandise tied to the film, such as J.Crew (they technically aren’t supposed to sell such items until the film opens and the exclusivity period ends). In early April, Streep appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she wore a blue cashmere crew sweater that was a nod Priestly’s infamous lecture about the color cerulean blue in the first film. The custom piece was commissioned by J.Crew and created by Streep’s stylist Micaela Erlanger. A version of the sweater costing $198 later went on sale, but immediately sold out, as did a far more modestly priced version costing $49.99.

And Tucci recently did a spot for TJ Maxx, which also wasn’t an an official partner.

For Disney, it’s all icing on the cake as long as it didn’t break the exclusive window the official partners enjoyed until the film officially opened. (Ryan Reynolds and George Dewey’s ad agency Maximum Effort helped execute the L’oréal Paris, Lancôme and TJ Maxx spots and is among a cadre of nimble ad agencies that brands are flocking to when executing multi-pronged campaigns.)

Influencers are also now all the rage, and were at every stop alongside the regular media during Prada‘s expansive global world tour. Between them, Hathaway, Blunt and Tucci crisscrossed the globe, from Mexico City to Asia, and then back to New York for the world premiere before heading for the London premiere and the European tour.

One product from an official partner that was seen throughout the tour, and in the film, is a bespoke version of the 2026 version luxurious Mercedes-Maybach S-Class. The Mercedes Benz S-Class was also featured in the first film, but that might as well have been a century ago. Mercedes said the sequel partnership marked a new, first-of-its-kind campaign from the brand. In addition to the vehicle, campaign assets included a custom spot featuring film footage and key visuals for print and digital advertising.

“Reminding people what they love so much about the first movie and the asking them to come and revisit these characters and see where they are 20 years later, was definitely a big factor in getting all audiences of all ages excited,” says Morrison.

By all accounts, the Disney marketing army succeeded. The campaign for Prada 2 has been widely applauded, including for its more devilishly clever moments. Below are some examples of the brand partnership content, as well as high-profile publicity victories.

That’s all.