Key points:
- Observed traffic and spend (per Advan) in April and early May have benefited from the excitement engendered from the film The Devil Wears Prada 2
- Film namesake Prada has enjoyed the strongest lift. Shopping malls as well.
Not only is The Devil Wears Prada 2 a hit at the box office (its domestic opening at $77M is 3X higher than its predecessor), it’s also been a hit for spending on luxury. Advan’s luxury index shows a nice spike in foot traffic, aligned to the film’s opening (May 1st). Simon Property Group’s top-end malls: Aventura, Short Hills, Sawgrass Mill, and Southdale show a similar spike. Advan’s SpendViewTM (transaction data) suggests that spending at Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Gucci, and Prada accelerated by roughly +600bps in April* from Q1’s trend and that for the 1st week of May (yes, only 1 week and so don’t extrapolate it) spending at accelerated further to +21% YoY. Namesake Prada itself experienced the largest lift from the event / film, with observed spend up +24% for April and +40% for week-1. (As a reminder, these brands collectively reported that the trend had strengthened in Q1 from Q4’s pace.)The film is also doing exceptionally well overseas with ticket sales of $288M since release, or 2X that of the US, for $432M in total (putting the movie on track to eventually exceed $800M). As such, we suspect that other luxury markets may also be experiencing a strong bump. (Influencers work everywhere.) Disney produced and released the film (vis-à-vis Twentieth Century Fox), and it and Disney+ will benefit financially / strategically from the film’s strong performance.
