Sequel a rare example of female-skewing movie leading the North American summer offerings – and highest opening weekend yet for a Meryl Streep film

Gird your loins: The Devil Wears Prada 2 has had a huge opening weekend at the box office, making $233m (£171m, A$323m) worldwide from an overwhelmingly female audience.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 earned $77m at the North American box office, and $156.6m internationally. In the US and Canada, the sequel bumped Michael to second place, though the musical biopic held on in its second weekend to earn $54m, falling only 44%.

Women made up about 76% of the ticket buyers, according to PostTrak exit polls; 74% said they would “definitely recommend” the movie to friends. Critics were a bit mixed on the sequel, which finds Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs working once more for Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly at the fictional Runway magazine in a much-depleted media landscape.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is the highest opening weekend for a Meryl Streep film by every metric, besting the $90m worldwide debut for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again in 2018. It is also the biggest international and global launch for Emily Blunt, topping Oppenheimer’s $180.4m worldwide opening weekend.