Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s latest film, Cookie Queens, is competing in a “really awful market”, according to the film’s director.
The movie about Girl Scouts debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was well-received by US outlets.
Despite a standing ovation and rave reviews, there has yet to be any announcement of a distributor for the film.
It has been reported that: “A few of the nonfiction titles came to the Festival with distribution, but the vast majority of documentaries were still looking for a home, with not a single reported acquisition deal so far.”
Cookie Queen is without an official distributor despite positive reviews
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Director of Cookie Queens, Alysa Nahamias, has revealed: “The market is really awful right now and it’s been so hard for so many of us.
“We can choose to feel powerless—or maybe we are powerless—but I do want to believe that things can change,” she told the International Documentary Association.
The positive reviews for Cookie Queen mark a moment of relief for Meghan and Harry, whose projects have been hit criticism in recent years.
The movie’s airing at the Sundance Film Festival sparked a bitter debate online in the days that followed.
Reports stated numerous seats remained unfilled at the Eccles Theatre screening, where the couple appeared on the red carpet alongside Ms Nahamias.
However, fans of the couple rejected those claims, describing them as a fabricated conspiracy designed to undermine Harry and Meghan and the Archewell Productions project.
The films follows a group of Girl Scouts and the challenges they face
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The row intensified on social media, with both camps exchanging accusations and sharing photographs from inside the venue to bolster their competing narratives about attendance figures.
The New York Post reported that approximately 150 seats were vacant at the Cookie Queens premiere, with festival passes costing as much as $7,000.
Page Six claimed this figure dropped to around 60 empty seats once the film started ten minutes behind schedule.
Photographs circulating online appeared to show considerable gaps in the balcony section above the packed stalls area before the screening began.
Multiple fans posted screenshots from ticket booking websites demonstrating that no seats were available for the premiere or subsequent screenings in the following days.
The contrast with the previous event was notable, when attendees were reportedly turned away from Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, featuring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton.
The premiere at the Sundance Film Festival sparked outrage among fans
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One attendee who was present at the screening dismissed the controversy as absurd. “This is silly, it was a packed house at 9am for a documentary in the biggest theater,” they said.
Another supporter took to Twitter with a more forceful rebuttal: “ALL screenings SOLD OUT!”