The Devil Wears Prada 2 strutted to the top of the box office in the first days of its theatrical run — a surprise to no one who saw the first Devil Wears Prada twenty years ago, then watched its popularity grow over the decades from a brisk, lively comedy fave affectionately skewering the fashion industry to a kind of classic status as people viewed it over and over again, delighting in its characters and committing its best lines to memory.Not all people though. The films — which can now be called a franchise — are firmly “geared toward women” in general descriptions, and the sequel has been drawing women as 75 percent of its audience. The sequel is a long-awaited one and had been hotly anticipated. During the March and April run-up to the May 1 opening, streaming numbers for the first Devil Wears Prada went up 8 percent.I’ve personally explained to five different straight men — all deeply invested in movies in general and all blankly unaware of The Devil Wears Prada 2 as the major filmgoing event this month — that it might be worth a moment of their attention. They might even consider watching The Devil Wears Prada 1 or 2 or both. The sequel has made a bit of film exhibition history in a modest way, after all:The Devil Wears Prada 2 holds the formidable distinction of becoming the first female-driven movie in modern history to kick off the summer box office, a duty that has almost always gone to a Marvel superhero pic or a Fast & Furious title.Let me just note that, when I think of all the goddamn stupid superhero movies “geared toward young men” that I’ve had to sit through and review because they’re big-event flicks that a lot of people are talking about with absurd seriousness, I get a little ticked off. How is it that superhero fantasy entertainment pitched to men continues to rate so highly while anything angled toward women is considered ignorable? What year is it — 1955? 1985?The grimness of The Devil Wears Prada 2…
