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

Though 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. Im not convinced thats true anymore."

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"And theres 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 its fair to ask how much of that is fame and how much is infamy," she said. "Theres a significant difference commercially."

"People may click on a headline because theyre fascinated by her or irritated by her. That doesnt mean theyre 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 isnt much they have that is at all in demand nor popular," Fordwich told Fox News Digital.