Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s latest project, “Cookie Queens,” hit theaters two weeks ago, with the couple serving as executive producers on the documentary about four Girl Scouts competing to become the season’s top cookie sellers. However, the film has struggled at the box office, even being outperformed by a compilation of viral cat videos.
Now, an expert has weighed in on the disappointing performance and explained why the setback could spell trouble for the Sussexes’ Hollywood ambitions.
Expert points out Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s new movie failing at the box office
PR expert Mayah Riaz analyzed the box office performance of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “Cookie Queens” and explained what the documentary’s struggles could mean for the couple. “I would be careful about viewing the box office result as a straightforward verdict on Harry and Meghan themselves,” she told The News International.
Riaz pointed out that “Cookie Queens is a niche documentary about Girl Scouts and their cookie-selling competition, so it was never going to have the natural commercial pull of a major mainstream film.” She also noted that the film “had a relatively limited theatrical release. Thus, “making a direct comparison with a conventional blockbuster is difficult.”
However, Riaz identified “a bigger PR issue here.” She explained, “Harry and Meghan have built a huge amount of their profile around being talked about.” At the same time, “there is an important difference between generating headlines and generating audiences.”
The expert continued that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s “names can still dominate the news cycle.” Even so, that does not “mean people will spend money or time consuming every project they attach themselves to.” Riaz concluded, “In fact, I think the irony is that the less controversial the project becomes, the harder it can be for them to generate genuine curiosity.”
Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield also weighed in on the documentary’s underwhelming performance, arguing that the Sussexes’ names alone are no longer enough to guarantee success for their projects. “Harry and Meghan remain extraordinarily effective at generating headlines, but headlines and paying customers are two very different things,” she told Fox News Digital.
Schofield suggested that the days are gone “when simply attaching their names to something guaranteed enormous curiosity.”
