Meghan Markle, Prince Harry box-office flop shows 'infamy' doesn't equal success: expert

Though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may still dominate headlines, their latest Hollywood venture is raising questions about whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's names can convert all that attention into paying customers.

Following the recent release of "Cookie Queens" — a documentary executive produced by the couple through Archewell Productions that follows four Girl Scouts navigating the highly competitive world of cookie sales while examining ambition, leadership and adolescence — the movie's opening weekend failed to produce strong box-office numbers.

"Cookie Queens" earned approximately $354,000 from 446 theaters, according to reported box-office figures. The documentary was beaten by "CatVideoFest 2026" — a compilation of viral internet cat videos — which earned approximately $569,000 despite playing on just 255 screens.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Archewell for comment.

The result has royal experts questioning whether Harry and Meghan's ability to dominate the news cycle still carries the same weight it once did.

"Harry and Meghan remain extraordinarily effective at generating headlines, but headlines and paying customers are two very different things," royal commentator Kinsey Schofield, host of YouTube's "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered," told Fox News Digital. "There was a period when simply attaching their names to something guaranteed enormous curiosity. I’m not convinced that’s true anymore."

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"And there’s no getting around the optics of finishing five places behind a 70-minute compilation of internet cat videos. Hollywood can forgive a lot, but being beaten by ‘CatVideoFest’ is the sort of indignity that writes its own punchline."

The Duchess of Sussex personally promoted the documentary ahead of its theatrical debut, discussing the movie and her own childhood experience as a Girl Scout.

Schofield said that involvement makes the opening numbers particularly noteworthy.

"Meghan certainly has enormous name recognition, but I think at this stage it’s fair to ask how much of that is fame and how much is infamy," she said. "There’s a significant difference commercially."

"People may click on a Meghan Markle headline because they’re fascinated by her or irritated by her. That doesn’t mean they’re going to buy a movie ticket because her name is attached to the project. ‘Cookie Queens’ gives us another interesting data point on that distinction."

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British royals expert Hilary Fordwich shared the same sentiment in that the performance raises questions about the couple's ability to attract audiences when their projects are not centered on the royal family.

"The extremely underwhelming box office is a clear indication that, yet again, unless they are bashing the royals and sharing inside stories, secrets and betraying the privacy of the family, there isn’t much they have that is at all in demand nor popular," Fordwich told Fox News Digital.

"Meghan certainly doesn’t have the commercial pull she has so desired," she added.

Fordwich argued the couple now face increased pressure to demonstrate they can produce a genuine mainstream hit.

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That question has followed the Sussexes throughout their post-royal entertainment career.

After stepping back from royal duties in 2020 and relocating to California, Harry and Meghan signed major deals in Hollywood. Their Netflix docuseries "Harry & Meghan," released in 2022, generated enormous attention by focusing heavily on the couple's departure from royal life and their relationship with the monarchy.

Harry's 2023 memoir, "Spare," similarly produced worldwide headlines with its claims about life inside the royal family.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital those projects remain the couple's most significant attention-grabbers.

"We all know their huge hits were the three infamous betrayals of the royal family, on Oprah, the Netflix series ‘Harry & Meghan’ and Harry’s memoir ‘Spare,’" Fitzwilliams said. "What is undoubted is the publicity that accompanies everything they do."

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"The world knows who they are, but isn't curious enough to tune in and watch Meghan's ghastly series 'With Love, Meghan,' their series on the Invictus Games, 'Polo' or, it seems, 'Cookie Queens.' Reports vary on the exact level of success or failure of Meghan's brand As Ever, but the jam, flower sprinkles and scented candles have become a bit of a joke."

"So it’s all about buzz and nothing else, save their link with real royalty," Fitzwilliams claimed.

Still, for Schofield, the numbers connected to "Cookie Queens" add to a broader question involving Archewell as Harry and Meghan move further away from the royal-family drama and focus more on their American ventures.

"Harry and Meghan are a fascinating case study in the difference between attention and commercial influence," Schofield said.

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"Infamy can be extremely valuable to newspapers, television shows and social media platforms because people will click, argue and engage. Monetizing that attention yourself is a completely different challenge."

"People want to consume content about Harry and Meghan," she added, "but are they equally interested in consuming content from Harry and Meghan?"

Schofield said Hollywood's expectations have changed considerably since the couple first arrived in California.

"When Harry and Meghan first arrived in California, they were the story," she said. "Hollywood was essentially buying access to two people who had just walked away from the Royal Family, and the curiosity surrounding them was enormous."

"Six years later, the novelty has diminished. The questions are much more conventional now: What can you produce? What can you sell? Can you build an audience around something that isn’t royal drama?"

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"They’ve had the deals, resources and access," she continued. "At this stage, tangible results matter."

Schofield believes the couple's future standing in Hollywood may depend less on announcements and more on execution.

"Hollywood is full of projects that die in development, so individually none of those are necessarily remarkable," she said. "But when you establish a pattern of big announcements without finished products, you risk damaging your credibility."

"You cannot build a serious production reputation on press releases and announcements," Schofield added.

And that, she said, is why even a relatively small documentary such as "Cookie Queens" matters.

"When a project does reach audiences, its performance becomes part of the résumé," Schofield said.

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"Being beaten at the box office by ‘CatVideoFest’ is funny, but against this larger backdrop, it makes the need for a genuine success that much more urgent."