For the first time since February, the box office has a duel for the No. 1 spot on the charts. It’s Miranda Priestly vs. Kitana as the second weekend of 20th Century’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is doing battle with Warner Bros./New Line’s new release “Mortal Kombat II.”
As the newcomer, “Mortal Kombat II” was the clear top grossing film on Friday, securing an opening day total of $17 million from 3,500 locations compared to $10 million from “Devil Wears Prada 2.” But industry estimates have both films making approximately $41 million this weekend.
Why? Because it is expected that “Prada 2” will get a big boost on Sunday from Mother’s Day. With a 74% female opening weekend crowd, this is a legacyquel driven by women, and it should be the film of choice for mothers and daughters going to the movies together. It will likely come down to walkup ticket sales for both movies on Sunday to determine the winner of the weekend.
Regardless of who takes No. 1, this is a good result for both films. While “Mortal Kombat II” is opening below the $51 million of New Line’s May 2025 film “Final Destination: Bloodlines,” it’s a solid start for a film with a reported box office budget of around $80 million. Reception for the gory R-rated title has been generally positive with a B on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 65% critics and 90% audience.
“Prada 2,” meanwhile, is paced to clear $200 million domestic and $500 million worldwide, with industry estimates projecting a 10-day domestic total of approximately $143 million. That is 12% ahead of the pace of Marvel Studios’ 2025 summer launch title “Thunderbolts*,” which had a $127.7 million 10-day total.
Lionsgate/Universal’s “Michael” is in third as it continues its remarkable hold with $35 million in its third weekend, passing $500 million worldwide as well as the unadjusted $216 million domestic total of the 2018 Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” to become the highest grossing music biopic ever in North America. It now has an estimated total of $238 million domestic and $570 million global through Sunday.
In fourth is Amazon MGM’s “The Sheep Detectives,” which earned $4 million from 3,457 locations on its opening day and is estimated for a $14.5 million opening on the high end of pre-release estimates. The good news for this family film is that it is earning high marks across the board with a 91% overall approval rating on PostTrak, an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 93% critics and 97% audience.
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