Meryl Streep was paid $12.5 million for The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reportedly got the same amount under a favored nations deal for the Disney-owned 20th Century Studios sequel.
The figure comes as the film has already taken in $300 million worldwide in one week, with sources saying each of the three stars could earn another $20 million if the box office keeps climbing. For a sequel to a 2006 hit that made $325 million, the deal shows how expensive a returning star trio can be when a studio thinks the audience will come back anyway.
That is not entirely new territory for the franchise. Director David Frankel previously said most of the movie’s $100 million budget went to its cast, and Streep has long been one of Hollywood’s most bankable awards-season names, with 21 acting Oscar nominations, more than any other performer. The original The Devil Wears Prada also brought her a Best Actress Oscar nomination, adding prestige to a property that has now become a commercial engine as much as a movie sequel.
Streep said on Today that she initially turned down the offer until producers increased it. “I doubled my ask,” she said. “It took me this long to understand that I could do that!” She added, “They needed me, I felt.”
The tension in the numbers is clear enough. In 2021, Streep reportedly made more on Netflix’s disaster film Don’t Look Up, though that salary was not reported, and the new Prada payday does not stand alone so much as it signals a market where legacy stars can still force studios to pay up when a franchise has proven draw. If the movie keeps rising, the extra $20 million on top of the reported $12.5 million would make the sequel one of the costliest acting packages in recent memory, and it would answer the one question the deal itself leaves hanging: just how far can a studio stretch for a film it already believes can print money?
