Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest Hollywood venture has faced a bruising opening weekend, with their first feature film, Cookie Queens, reportedly failing to break into the U.S. box-office Top 10. The film earned around £250,000 across 446 cinemas, averaging roughly £500 per screening, and landed at No. 13 — while a compilation featuring the world’s best cat videos pulled in approximately £421,334.

The result is particularly striking because Cookie Queens was not an unknown project quietly released without attention. The coming-of-age film, centred on Girl Scouts, was produced through Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Productions and had already generated interest after premiering at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where Meghan spoke about the film’s portrayal of modern girlhood.

Yet the box-office figures have created an awkward contrast between the expectations surrounding the Sussexes’ Hollywood ambitions and the reality of the film’s opening. The project reportedly received mixed reviews, with Variety describing it as resembling “too much of a reality-show ramble,” adding another layer to an already difficult launch.

The setback also comes at a sensitive moment for the couple’s wider entertainment strategy. Since stepping away from royal duties, Harry and Meghan have built a production business around telling stories for global audiences, with their Netflix partnership becoming one of the most visible parts of that post-Royal Family career. Their lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, despite attracting criticism, was renewed for a second season, while the couple continue to pursue projects through Archewell Productions.

But Cookie Queens represents something different. Rather than another documentary or reality-style project built around the Sussexes’ own lives, it places them behind a fictional feature film aimed at a broader audience. That makes the film’s theatrical performance particularly revealing: it offers a rare test of whether the Sussex brand can draw audiences when Harry and Meghan themselves are not the central subjects on screen.

The most uncomfortable detail may therefore not be the exact box-office ranking, but what the numbers appear to suggest about audience interest beyond the royal story. The couple have remained among the most recognisable names in global entertainment, yet turning that recognition into sustained theatrical success is proving to be a very different challenge.

For now, the film’s modest opening does not necessarily determine its ultimate fate. Word of mouth, streaming exposure and the couple’s existing Netflix relationship could give the project a longer life beyond cinemas. Harry and Meghan are also awaiting potential Emmy recognition in October, meaning their entertainment ambitions are far from finished.

Still, the image of a Sussex-produced feature being overtaken at the box office by a cat-video compilation is difficult to ignore. Behind the headline-grabbing result lies a much bigger question: was this simply one disappointing opening weekend, or is it an early warning that Harry and Meghan may need to rethink what audiences actually want from their Hollywood projects?