Thursday afternoon comes “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Some theaters will begin showing it at 2pm.
There’s a lot of pent up expectation about the sequel to the 2006 film. Disney has spent a fortune — maybe more than the film’s shooting budget — to promote “Prada” all over the world. The marketing has been jaw dropping.
As yet, however, no critics have seen it. Or if they have, they’ve signed away their first born agreeing to go along with Wednesday’s lifting of the review embargo.
Today’s New York Times carried a full page without any review quotes, which is very unusual for a big studio movie opening this Friday.
The assumption among some in the press is that “Prada 2” is not good. Or, it’s fun but it’s a rehash of the original film.
But so far, there is silence. And by the time the reviews come in on Wednesday afternoon, it will be too late for any potential bad news to spread. Disney will use all the hyperbolic quotes they can from influencers and reviewers who are kind to their films pro forma, and bypass even the slightest negativity.
Will audiences find the sequel as amusing and disarming as its predecessor? This is a new hard core take on marketing, after all. Disney has deals with Grey Goose vodka, TRESemmé haircare, Target, Old Navy, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Condé Nast. The last one is the most troubling. Conde Nast publishes Vogue, which is supposed to be the butt of the satire here. But Vogue and Anna Wintour have fully embraced the film, putting the latter and Meryl Streep on the cover this month.
Is it too much? And what if things go wrong? Can you imagine a disappointing box office report on Sunday? Does Anna uninvite everyone to the Met Ball next Monday?
So, cross fingers.
