Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Hollywood ambitions suffered a major setback just 24 hours before their shock return to the UK was announced. The couple learned that their production company Archewell's first cinema film, Cookie Queens, has become one of the biggest and most embarrassing box office disasters in recent history.
New figures show the movie, described as a “comedy documentary,” earned a mere £4,778 across the entire United States on its eighth day of release on Friday, August 14. This amounts to a paltry average of just £40.39 per screening at the 119 cinemas showing it, meaning only two or three people were watching each time in otherwise empty auditoriums.
Grim Box Office Figures
These figures, released last Tuesday by box office monitoring firm The Numbers, follow a lacklustre opening for Cookie Queens, which by the middle of last week had grossed just over £420,850 in total. Only a handful of movies on general release have registered smaller returns, and most of those hit screens at the start of the pandemic, immediately prior to lockdowns when millions were afraid to venture out.
Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, are both listed as executive producers of the film, which follows the fund-raising efforts of a group of enterprising girl scouts selling a variety of popular cookies.
Director's Vision and Public Rejection
Prior to its release, following a preview at this year's Sundance Film Festival, director Alysa Nahmias said: “I tried to show how they are wiser than their years and ask questions about the world that are completely normal for their age – and for anyone.”
But the paying public in America has completely failed to bite on either the movie or the homespun philosophy behind it, with one major US outlet describing it as “box office poison.”
Industry Reaction and Financial Fallout
Although details of the film's production and marketing budgets have not been released, a senior Hollywood production executive said: “It's going to lose a huge amount of money – and I think it takes Harry and Meghan well past the point of no return. They're going to be flying back to England with their tails between their legs in terms of the big time dreams they once held of becoming entertainment and multi-media moguls. There really is no coming back for them after this.”
Ironically, Harry and Meghan offered Cookie Queens first to streaming and studio giant Netflix as part of their new “first look” deal that replaced the £73.2million five-year contract they signed shortly after arriving to live in America. Netflix turned them down flat, however, and Archewell ended up partnering with four other production companies to distribute the film via Roadside Attractions, a subsidiary of Hollywood giant Lionsgate Studios.
A well-placed source confirmed: “Everyone involved in making this movie will end up losing money. The instinct Netflix showed in rejecting it has proved to be spot on.”
This latest financial setback comes as Harry has been given a week to pay his £9.5million share of court costs over his failed legal action against a UK newspaper, and reportedly dwindling online retail sales for Meghan's As Ever “lifestyle products.” She, however, has been thrown a potential financial lifeline after reportedly being offered a UK-based “major new role” in British director Guy Ritchie's successful comedy action Netflix series The Gentlemen.
An Archewell spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment, but the senior Hollywood source confirmed: “I believe they'll find it exceptionally hard – if not impossible – to continue with their various America-based businesses once they're back in England.”
