Typically it’s the fanboys who fire off summer, but this year, it’s the fangirls as 20th Century Studios/Disney’s highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2 looks to keep the box office pizzazz going after Lionsgate’s Michael, with a $73M-$80M domestic start for what could be a near $180M worldwide debut in an offshore footprint that’s 100%.

Essentially, a $100M international opening worthy of applause.

While tracking has risen to $73M, U.S./Canada presales of $20M indicate that an $80M start is in store at 4,150 theaters. Those advance ticket sales are ahead of both Amazon MGM Studio’s Project Hail Mary ($80.5M opening) and Dune: Part Two ($82.5M). The sequel which is arriving close to 20 years later in theaters reteams the pic’s original director David Frankel with franchise cast members Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci. The sequel is expected to have a significantly bigger gravitational pull for all women than Gucci’s spring collection. No reviews yet on Rotten Tomatoes, but not even a pan by Anna Wintour herself could slow the momentum for Devil Wears Prada 2 at the box office.

And while female-skewing movies are known to be frontloaded in their grosses, the hope is that the PG-13 Devil Wears Prada 2 has a longer runway than usual given that its second weekend will play into Mother’s Day.

Among the pic’s promotional partners looking to excite the 18-34 set are L’oreal, Dior (which makes a cameo in the film; Blunt’s Emily is a force to be reckoned there in the film), Mercedes Benz and Diet Coke.

Also sprucing up excitement as we head into Friday’s runway launch: the pic’s new single “Runway” from Lady Gaga and Doechii which is performed in the pic, dropped yesterday, and has already clocked 3.1M views on YouTube.

Devil Wears Prada 2 will have control of premium large format screens at a count of 1,000, including all the Dolbys plus 100 ScreenX, and 200+ D-Box/Motion screens. Previews start Thursday at 2PM.

Lionsgate’s Michael, which is looking forward to an ease around -50% if not better (in the $45M-$50M range) will hold onto the Imax hubs. Yesterday, Michael made $7.6M taking its four-day cume to $104.8M.

Overall, a great start to the summer, likely to rival a year ago when Marvel Studio’s Thunderbolts* led a weekend where all pics totaled $144.2M. Already, 2026 per ComScore is coursing 14% ahead of the Jan. 1-April 26 frame from a year ago with $2.57 billion. Last year ended with $8.8 billion.

Like-to-like comps overseas are tricky when it comes to Devil Wears Prada 2. Universal’s Wicked debuted to $73M, but that pic’s offshore play wasn’t strong due to the fact that the IP wasn’t extremely well known abroad. Sex and the City 2, which was a while ago in 2010, opened to $50M offshore. Arguably, there’s more nostalgia for Devil Wears Prada, which you’ll remember was originally based on Lauren Weisberger’s New York Times bestseller. She wrote two more novels, 2013’s Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns (which has a plot that’s very different from the sequel written by returning screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna), and 2018’s, When Life Gives You Lululemons.

Going way back to 2006 in reported grosses, Devil Wears Prada was very popular in Europe: UK did $26.5M, Germany $23M+, Italy phenomenal at $19.3M, with Japan also very good with a near $15M and Australia over $11M. That first pic opened to $27.5M domestic, and legged out to $124.7M stateside and $326.5M global. Devil Wears Prada was also nominated for two Oscars: Streep in Lead Actress and Patricia Field’s Costume Design.

In the states, there’s also some counterprogramming, most of which is looking to open to $5M or less. This is led by NEON’s Adam Scott horror pic, Hokum, at 2,000 theaters and a 91% fresh score on RT. There’s still more media to air this week in promotion of the film which world premiered at SXSW. Angel Studios’ has the Andy Serkis directed animated version of George Orwell’s Animal Farm at 2,500 sites and low RT of 29%. Bob Yari’s Magenta Light Studios has the Renny Harlin directed, Deep Water booked at 2,000 as well.