{"id":318875,"date":"2026-08-11T19:16:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318875\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T19:16:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:16:53","slug":"prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-suffer-another-blow-as-cookie-queens-flops-at-box-office-despite-promo-blitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/318875\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Suffer Another Blow as ‘Cookie Queens’ Flops at Box Office Despite Promo Blitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prince Harry<\/a> and Meghan Markle<\/a> have suffered yet another professional blow as their Cookie Queens documentary bombed at the box office in its opening weekend, RadarOnline.com<\/a> can reveal.<\/p>\n

The Sussexes signed on as executive producers of the Girl Scout cookie-selling saga, with the 45-year-old making herself the face of the project and going on a promotional blitz that failed to draw theatergoers.<\/p>\n

Meghan Markle Became the Face of ‘Cookie Queens’ Promotional Blitz\"Markle<\/p>\n

Markle joined director Alysa Nahmias for nearly all of ‘Cookie Queens’ promotions. efforts.Tasty\/YouTube<\/p>\n

After opening in theaters on August 7, Cookie Queens finished 13th at the box office for the weekend, with a total of $327,797 on 446 screens and a $734 per-screen average.<\/p>\n

In comparison, the doc lost out to CatVideoFest2026, a 70-minute compilation of the year’s best cat videos. It finished in 10th place on far fewer 225 screens and at about $2,229 per-screen average for $568,414.<\/p>\n

Markle launched a full-throttle promotional blitz ahead of the film’s theatrical release, hitting special screenings and sitting down for extensive interviews with Sussex-friendly publications, where she repeatedly reminisced about her own childhood as a Girl Scout.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles native even jumped into a viral video<\/a> alongside director Alysa Nahmias and the three Scouts featured in the film, dishing on her family’s favorite Girl Scout cookies while helping the youngsters dream up a brand-new flavor.<\/p>\n

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Signed on As E.P.’s After ‘Cookie Queens’ Was Completed\"The<\/p>\n

The Sussexes traveled to the Sundance Film Festival, where Markle was heavily involved in the doc’s promotion.MEGA<\/p>\n

Harry, 41, and Markle signed on<\/a> as executive producers of Cookie Queens in December 2025, after the documentary was completed and ahead of its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival the following month.<\/p>\n

Despite the Sussexes’ first look deal<\/a> with Netflix<\/a>, the streamer passed on picking up the film.<\/p>\n

The ex-royals headed to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance premiere<\/a>, with Markle walking the red carpet and giving an introductory speech before the screening began.<\/p>\n

The former actress raved over how her favorite cookie was the Thin Mints, while her husband had taken a liking to “The shortbread cookies, and he loves the Samoas.”<\/p>\n

Markle also hinted that her daughter, Lilibet, may one day become a scout like she was, telling a reporter, “I think we’ll continue to explore whatever feels right.”<\/p>\n

‘Cookie Queens’ Struggled to Find Distributor \"'Cookie<\/p>\n

‘Cookie Queens’ bombed in it’s first weekend of theatrical release. RoadsideFlix\/YouTube<\/p>\n

Despite Markle’s highly visible presence at Sundance, the documentary failed to secure a distributor at the festival.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the independent film distribution and production company Roadside Attractions acquired the film in March, giving Cookie Queens a summer theatrical release.<\/p>\n

Everyone Involved In the Film Was ‘Markled’\"Critics<\/p>\n

Critics claimed Markle’s heavy presence promoting the film may have turned off some theatergoers. MEGA<\/p>\n

Cookie Queens’ box office performance was linked back to a growing public distaste for Markle, according to critics on Reddit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s really staggering how poorly Cookie Queens has done. So many showings had to be played with no one in the audience. It\u2019s crazy. Markle really does have a way about her. Everything she touches turns to s—,” one person scoffed.<\/p>\n

“It’s worse when you realize it\u2019s $700 spread over three days. That’s $250 per day,” a second person noted about the per-screen average.<\/p>\n

“Meghan has totally taken over promotion for the movie by turning it into a jam promotion…she doesn’t understand the nuance of this doc at all,” a third Redditor sneered over how Markle mentioned during promotional efforts how she loved to dip the shortbread cookies into her As Ever fruit spreads.<\/p>\n

A fourth user said, “Everyone \u2013 from the producer and director to theater owners and even the little girls in the movie \u2013 has been ‘Markled.’ I have no doubt those metrics would have been much better if Meg had never heard of Cookie Queens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have suffered yet another professional blow as their Cookie Queens documentary bombed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-318875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318875","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=318875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}