Mortal Kombat II fails to displace The Devil Wears Prada 2 at the box office, barely beats Michael in subpar start

Mortal Kombat II box office: Karl Urban's video game adaptation opened at $40 million in North America and $63 million worldwide.

May 11, 2026, 08:30:08 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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It was a box-office battle of the sequels as Mortal Kombat II released worldwide this weekend, hoping to wrest the crown from The Devil Wears Prada 2. But the Meryl Streep-starrer continued to rule the roost as Mortal Kombat II fell below expectations in a subpar start.

Mortal Kombat II box office: Karl Urban stars in this video game adaptation.

Mortal Kombat II's subpar start

According to studio estimates, Mortal Kombat II opened its account at the North American box office with $40 million in its first weekend. It was in the second spot, failing to displace The Devil Wears Prada 2, which earned $43 million in its second weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, ranked third, bringing in $36 million in its third weekend. On Sunday, Michael surpassed Mortal Kombat II, earning $13.2 million to the video game adaptation's $9.5 million.

Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore, said Mother's Day might have helped The Devil Wears Prada 2 gain an edge over the newcomer, yet it still had a modest 44% dip in weekend two. “The release date was perfect,” Dergarabedian told AP. “This may be the new blueprint for how to start a summer.”

The other new releases

This weekend had a wide variety of newcomers playing in wide release, including the family-friendly whodunnit The Sheep Detectives and a James Cameron co-directed Billie Eilish concert film.

The Sheep Detectives brought in $15.9 million in its first weekend in 3,457 theatres and settled into the fourth spot. The quirky, all-ages murder mystery features a starry ensemble including Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson and Nicholas Braun, as well as the voices of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Regina Hall and Patrick Stewart, all as sheep trying to figure out who murdered their shepherd. Rounding out the top five was Billie Eilish—Hit Me Hard & Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), an immersive concert experience, which Cameron shared co-directing credits on with Eilish. It earned $7.5 million in North America and $12.6 million internationally.

Hollywood's big earners of 2026

The Devil Wears Prada 2 has now earned $433 million worldwide in a little over a week. Michael, meanwhile, has minted $577 million, and is steadily moving towards the $600-million mark. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie remains Hollywood's highest-grosser in 2026 with a worldwide gross of $941 million and counting. Ryan Gosling-starrer, Project Hail Mary, is also going steady, having reached $655 million after seven weeks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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