Spoilers for The Devil Wears Prada 2 ahead.
Gird your loins, people — The Devil Wears Prada 2 is officially in cinemas globally from May 1. I’m one of the lucky few press members who were allowed to see it early, and saying that my heart was full with 2006 nostalgia is an understatement.
Why? By playing heavily on fan service. There are heavy references to the most iconic moments in the original movies, with what we want to see returning repurposed in the best possible way — fictional band Pink Slip for Freakier Friday, the infamous cerulean sweater for The Devil Wears Prada 2.
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But interestingly, The Devil Wears Prada 2 has a more disheartening story at its core for the girls who grew up trying to be dogged journalist Andy (Anne Hathaway). In the sequel, she’s brought back into Runway Magazine when Editor-in-Chief Miranda (Meryl Streep) becomes subject to a fast fashion scandal.
While Andy desperately tries to claw Runway’s integrity back, disaster strikes. Runway’s parent company is looking to downsize the magazine after poor viewership figures, eventually leaving it between a rock and a hard place.
The choices:
- Option 1: try and cling to Runway’s traditional media legacy for as long as possible, retaining its ability to publish as a print magazine. Lose more editorial and fashion staff in the process.
- Option 2: Be bought out by Emily’s (Emily Blunt) new love interest, billionaire Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux). He wants to completely digitalize Runway so Emily can run it, swapping out “quality” for AI-generated content.
As The Devil Wears Prada 2 is, in fact, a movie, Andy and Miranda collectively save the day to stop either option from happening, instead getting Benji’s ex, Sasha (Lucy Liu), to buy them out instead.
Hooray! All is saved. But with so much of the movie’s creative industry narrative happening in real life, I decided to get some answers for myself, investigative style (Andy, I hope you’re proud).
Here’s my question: what would happen if Runway Magazine were real, and actually had this exact conundrum in real life? What if its only options were to be bought out by OpenAI, or its CEO, Sam Altman (who is playing the Benji Barnes role in this scenario) personally?
I asked ChatGPT for its help in creating a much more realistic ending to The Devil Wears Prada 2… and surprisingly, I didn’t feel too disheartened by doing so.
Runway would need a combination of both options to best survive, according to ChatGPT
Once I confirmed that ChatGPT understands what Runway Magazine is in the context of the original The Devil Wears Prada, I moved on to asking it to value its potential worth if it still existed in 2026.
I get three valuation options in return, but it’s the second that seems most in line with where Runway is in our sequel. Akin to Vogue at Condé Nast, the magazine functions in print but with a healthy digital, social, and video presence, which prices it at around $500 million – $1.5 billion.
Pricey. Now we consider Miranda’s personal decline and Runway’s viewership figures beginning to decrease, which are our story catalysts for The Devil Wears Prada 2. What would happen if OpenAI, as a company, tried to save the publication?
Unsurprisingly, ChatGPT immediately tells me that this in itself is unlikely. The two companies don’t have that much in common, and if OpenAI were to take the plunge, Runway would be looking at a complete AI overhaul.
This would involve things like launching AI stylists and shopping assistants, developing a creator ecosystem, and using it as a cultural training ground for AI. All of this would result in “a cultural authority + data engine + creative platform,” turning Runway into “the operating system for personal style and fashion intelligence.”
Interesting, but perhaps a jump too far realistically. But when I ask if Sam Altman personally buying Runway — as Benji does in the movie — holds more weight, things become a little more realistic.
“That would be a very different move — and honestly, a more plausible kind of scenario than OpenAI itself buying a fashion brand,” ChatGPT tells me.
“If Sam Altman bought something like Runway personally, it likely wouldn’t be about squeezing profit out of a magazine. It would look more like a mix of influence, experimentation, and long-term positioning.”
“Bottom line: If Sam Altman bought Runway himself, it would probably become a cultural lab for AI + taste + influence, and not just a media company, but a gateway between technology and high-end culture.”
This is the sort of realism I’m looking for in my hypothetical investigation, because it’s a move I can absolutely see happening (Elon Musk buying Twitter, anyone?).
But intriguingly, it doesn’t make me feel too disappointed if something like that were to ever happen. At least through the way ChatGPT frames it, keeping legacy and quality alive is something that remains an important value, turning any technological change into a “best of both worlds” outcome rather than a total transformation.
Don’t panic: I don’t think a giant publication deal like this is going to happen in the immediate future. But if it does later down the line, the ending might not be as bleak as The Devil Wears Prada 2 assumes.
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
