{"id":113860,"date":"2026-01-27T14:24:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113860\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:24:24","slug":"inside-harry-and-meghans-sundance-redemption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/113860\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Harry and Meghan’s Sundance redemption"},"content":{"rendered":"

When\u00a0Prince Harry\u00a0and\u00a0Meghan Markle<\/a>\u00a0rolled through Park City<\/a> for the premiere of their documentary \u201cCookie Queens\u201d over the weekend, people close to them noted a change in their demeanor \u2014 a mood one source described as \u2018somber.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very guarded. All Harry wanted to talk about was his Daily Mail trial<\/a>,\u201d said a source friendly with the Sussexes who ran into them the day of the premiere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attending the \u201cCookie Queens\u201d screening at Sundance 2026. Derek Shook \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

It was only a few years ago that Harry and Meghan would\u2019ve\u00a0blown through Park City, like, well, royalty. For years they were riding high with a lucrative overall deal at Netflix<\/a> and\u00a0Ted Sarandos\u00a0on speed dial. They also had the backing of a team of development executives led by\u00a0Ben Browning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But after a string of disappointing projects, their Netflix deal was downgraded to a first-look deal and Browning, like most Archewell<\/a> executives, has since moved on \u2014 leaving a skeleton crew led by\u00a0Chanel Pysnik\u00a0who was on the ground in Sundance, we hear.<\/p>\n

Although one source noted that Pysnik, like many film people at this year\u2019s festival, was quietly poking around for job opportunities. \u201cClearly there\u2019s a lot riding on this documentary. Honestly, it feels like this is their last chance at redemption and that this whole Hollywood experiment hangs in the balance,\u201d this same source told P6H.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And redemption they may have found!<\/p>\n

We hear that their film, \u201cCookie Queens,\u201d has apparently spawned a high-altitude bake-off with multiple buyers including Netflix and HBO circling the film that tracks one drama-filled Girl Scout Cookie season. Turns out there are some real stakes surrounding those addictive Thin Mints, which pull in around $800 million in business each year. And the star wattage gleamed from being involved with the Sussexes is still worth a few million or two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Top sellers Submarine and WME are fielding the bids on \u201cCookie Queens.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCookie Queens\u201d is about Girl Scouts around the country selling the most cookie boxes. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prince Harry, who is an executive producer on the project, was on hand for the Eccles Theatre premiere and after party which in keeping with the theme, was a non-alcoholic affair with mocktails only. (What it lacked in booze, the party\u2019s organizers made up for in Girl Scout treats \u2014 and a number of industry execs were spotted sneaking whole boxes of Thin Mints and Trefoils under their coats as they exited. No one called security.)<\/p>\n

\u201cCookie Queens\u201d isn\u2019t the only project that\u2019s generating interest among buyers, which is a welcome sign to festival organizers who over the past few years have been contending with a deeply depressed indie film landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A number of agents we spoke to are feeling surprisingly upbeat and holding their collective breaths that this year\u2019s festival might prove to be a seller\u2019s market after all.<\/p>\n

Olivia Wilde\u2019s \u201cThe Invite\u201d<\/a> has generated the most buzz after its Saturday world premiere. After all, it\u00a0is\u00a0about a struggling couple who get invited to their neighbor\u2019s orgy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Olivia Wilde attends the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Getty Images<\/p>\n

According to sources up to eight buyers were vying for the rights to distribute the film, including Netflix. (Several execs say they\u2019re hoping this film plays more like Wilde\u2019s directorial debut \u201cBooksmart\u201d \u2014 a critical and commercial hit \u2014 and less like \u201cDon\u2019t Worry Darling,\u201d which was plagued by on-set drama with Wilde feuding with star\u00a0Florence Pugh.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

UTA and FilmNation are co-repping the film, which is expected to fetch more than $20 million. Focus Features, A24, Netflix, Searchlight and Neon have all expressed interest in the title, with Netflix putting forward the biggest offer. But sources tell Page Six Hollywood that a theatrical release is key to the filmmakers, which could disqualify the streamer from the conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The film, which stars Wilde and\u00a0Seth Rogen, is also the first high-profile producing effort from\u00a0Megan Ellison\u00a0and her Annapurna production company in four years. Megan has been the \u201cforgotten\u201d Ellison recently, since her brother\u00a0David\u00a0bought Paramount and he and their dad\u00a0Larry\u00a0are wrestling Netflix for control of Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

Seth Rogen attends the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. MediaPunch \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

Last year, the fest famously neglected to produce any nail-biting, competitive acquisition dealmaking that had once been a hallmark of the heavy industry presence in Park City.<\/p>\n

If anyone might be wistful about the end of Sundance as we know it, it would be veteran independent film producer\u00a0David Permut. The 71-year-old has attended almost every Sundance Film Festival since 1991. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Sundance, I\u2019d be on a street corner with a cup begging for change,\u201d Permut tells P6H. This year has special relevance to Permut, not just because it\u2019s the last one in Park City but also because he co-produced the \u201cThe Invite,\u201d which also stars\u00a0Edward Norton\u00a0and\u00a0Penelope Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a sentimentality to it because we\u2019ve all been coming here for decades. I can tell you exactly where I was when I saw these iconic movies for the first time, but the bottom line is what\u2019s on the screen is what counts. As long as it\u2019s a great film that can be seen anywhere,\u201d he says, although he declined to comment on the status of the bidding war.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heading into the festival some had hoped that a handful of new distributors \u2014 like Row K Entertainment,\u00a0Teddy Schwarzman\u2019s Black Bear and Warner Bros.\u2019 new film label, which is being headed up by former Neon execs\u00a0Christian Parkes,\u00a0Jason Wald\u00a0and\u00a0Spencer Collantes\u00a0\u2014 might pick up some of the recent sales slack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others aren\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s bittersweet, especially with the recent passing of [Robert] Redford who was this amazing actor who created this space that changed the culture and world and never got any monetary value from it,\u201d says a veteran buyer who has been attending Sundance for over two decades. This buyer called the 2026 lineup \u201ca year of discovery,\u201d which in industry jargon translates to \u2018no obvious sure bet.\u2019 \u201cNo one is talking about that one title that\u2019s a perfect fit that will almost certainly make money or at the very least you could potentially sell to your board or your CEO. We are hoping the programmers made the right bets on the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Meghan and Harry may be the beneficiaries of the otherwise ho-hum cookie plate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When\u00a0Prince Harry\u00a0and\u00a0Meghan Markle\u00a0rolled through Park City for the premiere of their documentary \u201cCookie Queens\u201d over the weekend, people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[489,9,24,63,50622,490,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-113860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-meghan-markle","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-page-six-hollywood","13":"tag-prince-harry","14":"tag-queens","15":"tag-queens-headlines","16":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}