On Saturday night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the first Sundance Film Festival premiere event for Cookie Queens, the documentary they executive produced about Girl Scout Cookies and the girls who sell them. On Sunday morning, Harry and Meghan were back in action, attending an early-morning premiere at Sundance. Meghan even spoke ahead of the screening, and she and Harry chatted with some of the entertainment reporters at the early-morning “red carpet.” More on that in a moment. Soon after the Sunday morning screening, Page Six bizarrely claimed that the screening was poorly attended, and that the half-empty theater was just further evidence of the Sussexes’ declining popularity:
The Sussexes couldn’t sell out Sundance. Although Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended the Park City, Utah, bow of the new documentary they produced, “Cookie Queens,” Sunday morning, there were plenty of open seats at the Eccles Theatre.
As the film began, roughly 150 unoccupied spots remained in the balcony, plus some scattered chairs on the ground. That number ultimately tightened to about 60, as lucky wait-listers slowly filled empty places reserved for high-paying pass-holders (the coveted express badge costs $6,900), who mostly passed on the visiting royals.
“Cookie Queens,” which was enthusiastically received by the Park City crowd, is an adorable heartwarmer that follows several precocious Girl Scouts from all over the US on their quest to sell as many cookie boxes as possible.
A ticket to a starry and exclusive Sundance screening is typically a hot commodity. They are extremely difficult to get into. In the same theater the night before, at the mobbed premiere of Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite,” starring Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, staff had to turn away about 100 actual ticket holders — as seats there are not assigned.
In an uncommon move at Sundance for an executive producer, Markle, 44, spoke onstage before the film. She suggested the mountain town might be hungover from boozy Saturday parties. “Thank you so much for being here bright and early,” she said. “I know some of you probably had late nights last night, so extra thanks for the effort.”
Before the lights went down, Harry, 41, walked around hugging people who appeared to be involved with the film.
“My husband and I and Archewell Productions, we are so proud and privileged to be able to support and uplift ‘Cookie Queens,’” the “Suits” alum added.
So, all of this was a lie. It was picked up by Tom Sykes and some of the British outlets, because that was the whole purpose of Page Six’s lie. The Sunday morning screening was actually sold out, as were all of the other screenings. Page Six’s lie was so egregious, even Matthew Belloni – Puck News’ entertainment/media guy and a pretty big deal – tweeted out the absurdity of the lie. It was also abundantly clear that the Sunday screening was well-attended by entertainment reporters – Deadline, Variety and the Hollywood Reporter all sent their biggest reporters to the screening and they all got exclusive footage and/or comments from Meghan. Why did Page Six lie about something so easily proven false?
This is silly, it was a packed house at 9am for a documentary in the biggest theater… https://t.co/axvpe1SvVM
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) January 25, 2026
Yes they did. Every single screening sold out. Nice try though! pic.twitter.com/TTlxLnfcj6
— montecito royals (@house_of_sussex) January 25, 2026
In a rare move at Sundance, programmer Kim Yutani welcomes an executive producer to introduce a filmmaker before the screening but for good reason as she invites Meghan, Duchess of Sussex to offer remarks about Cookie Queens and filmmaker Alysa Nahmias. Prince Harry looked on… pic.twitter.com/ZY2U4yCQRO
— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) January 25, 2026
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- Park City, UT Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted arriving at the screening of the movie “Cookie Queens” during Sundance 2026, in Park City, Utah. Pictured: Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 JANUARY 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Park City, UT Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted arriving at the screening of the movie “Cookie Queens” during Sundance 2026, in Park City, Utah. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 JANUARY 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Park City, UT Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted arriving at the screening of the movie “Cookie Queens” during Sundance 2026, in Park City, Utah. Pictured: Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 25 JANUARY 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Park City, UT Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted arriving at the screening of the movie “Cookie Queens” during Sundance 2026, in Park City, Utah. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 JANUARY 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Park City, UT Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were spotted arriving at the screening of the movie “Cookie Queens” during Sundance 2026, in Park City, Utah. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 25 JANUARY 2026 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Because someone tells a blatant lie then the others repeat the lie and that drowns out the people pointing out it’s a lie. They make enough noise and casual observers shrug and assume another ‘failure’ by H&M on top of the string of failures they’ve already heard about.
Especially ridiculous as it hadn’t even been made public that the Sussexes would be attending, no doubt for security reasons (they’d gone to that special screening elsewhere the night before). It really was fantastic to see a packed house at 9.00 am on a Sunday morning!
And for a documentary too.
And they get that lie out there first, because the BM basically has a form letter-style article ready to go, proclaiming the failure of anything remotely involving the Sussexes. It’s always the same article, hitting all the same “nobody cares about Meghan and Harry” beats. They just fill in the name, location, and date and publish it like, while the event is actually still in progress.
It’s a stupid lie anyway, because the doc was always going to be well received, even without the Sussexes. We LOVE Girls Scouts and GS cookies in the US.
They are also comparing a documentary about Girl Scouts selling cookies to evening premiers of movies with A listers. Of course there would be more people waiting outside to try to get into evening premiers of movies than 9am matinees on a Sunday. It’s fantastic that Cookie Queen’s got a packed house. I bet everyone involved is thrilled with the interest it has generated!
Even if they compared it shows the showings were all sold out!
it’s just cruel and we know this and why/how they are doing this. they are in the middle of the lawsuit and will do anything not just to discredit them but also to hurt them and punish them for the lawsuit.
All of these old white dudes are showing that they are truly the soft, weak, snowflakes while screaming into the abyss about everyone else being soft blah blah blah cancel culture blah blah blah they won’t let me sexually harass women anymore blah blah blah.
Such a pathetic group.
Don’t bother lying about things that can be disproven with a screenshot. 🤦♀️
Lies like these just make me support the Sussex’s more.. whatever streaming service picks up this movie will have a new subscriber.
Bizarre indeed. Especially as it hadn’t even been made public that the Sussexes would be attending, no doubt for security reasons (they’d gone to a special screening elsewhere the night before). It really was fantastic to see a packed house at 9.00 am on a Sunday morning!
They lie because that’s all they have. They make stuff up to spin a false story about the Sussexes to keep the haters and derangers happy. Glad there are others who are disputing their lies!!
This is why when I speak about the British press I include Page Six. So dumb.
Murdoch’s minions strike again – they’ll never get over Harry forcing an eight figure settlement, legal costs, admission of UIG and an apology out of them last year (bit the bullet at the eleventh hour to avoid being dragged into court) ☹️
I’m glad Matthew pushed back but I was surprised because Puck news is often really shady about the Sussexes.
Puck is often anti Harry and Meghan but if a journalist (not a royal propagandist) witnesses something with their own eyes they are more likely to push back against lies.
Yeah, it’s funny. Bc there were journalists in the room! Even they’re like yeah no, it was sold out. What an epic blunder by page 6. Egg on face fr.
Those gutter rats are becoming the Sussexes PR machine. More and more folks will be pointing out their lies and unfair reporting.
The thing about the waning popularity stories that’s odd to me is how they can write that premise when the BM never acknowledged the Sussexes popularity in the first place. How can they be losing support and popularity when the BM and their ilk never acknowledged the Sussexes had support to begin with.
They don’t expect their readers to think.
Anytime this stuff happens, it actually helps them in a weird way by showing how sick and demented the hatred of them is. Puck has leveled plenty of criticisms at the Sussexes over the years, but they’ve kept it to business – when the people reporting on business can see this bizarre campaign play out, even they get to a point of exasperation.
What morons. To lie about something so easily disproved. Instantly makes you think about anything else they’ve lied about in regards to the Sussexes. Which is clearly a lot.
Page Six is the NY Post , the post is owned by Rupert Murdoch who owns the Mail. Their lies make sense… to them.
Murdoch owns The Sun, another garbage wrapper. But they both stink equally.
Their bitterness over losing access to the Sussexes on top of having virtually nothing to report about the actual heir to the throne is showing. Will they report on the 2-minute standing ovation this film got?
They had no idea they were part of this project for the last 2 years.
This move in the anti-Meghan and Harry playbook is now being used systematically by their media haters: whenever M&H do something which is fantastically well-received (eg this Sundance screening, or Meghan’s Balenciaga outing), they make up some obscure fake criticism and blast that all over their front pages.
With the Balenciaga show it was Meghan’s video which showed that she killed princess Diana herself by driving around Paris, where princess Di was killed. Now this fake nonsense about whether the Sundance viewing was a sell-out.
It’s a strategy that works for those not paying attention.
It’s doubly weird because there are multiple documentaries on the Sundance website that aren’t sold out for all screenings but Cookie Queens is sold out and we are supposed to think it has failed because someone thinks they may have seen some empty seats in a video. Totally insane!
I have to know, were Thin Mints served to the crowd? Because yum!
How petty. It’s the Girl Scouts!! The tabloids have no shame.
Yeah, you have to be particularly soulless to be lying about a documentary about kids. JFC, take a day off from your miserable existence.
I said this elsewhere, but I cannot wait to see this doc. (Former GS and GS troop leader here, who hated cookie sales, but loves the cookies — a case of hating the game, not the player lol).
They are so desperate to circulate this lie and it makes no sense. The film was very well received and got a long standing ovation. So the standard for the Sussexes is everything needs to sell out and be number one. When it actually does sell out , they need to lie about it.
I know the point of this story is the spreading of the BS lies, but after watching that clip, I’m struck (as always) by what a great public speaker Meghan is. Warm, genuine, articulate, just like Harry. It really does illustrate the stark reality – how bad the Wales are at it and how truly, utterly the Royal Family messed up in driving away a superstar modern asset to the firm.
What I loathe about lying like this is the all-around way evil entities and people continue to use this ploy. I hate that it works and the lack of values, because of the lethal consequences for the vulnerable, and heroic folks, for one thing. Yes, people could try to learn and they depend on those who don’t, but media and leaders should have internal ethics to stop. In these cases I don’t believe there are little lies, they’re all harmful untruths. It’s maybe naive and I still hope.
Page Six blows. Evidently they’re expanding to California, and as an Angeleno, I’m not having it. I buy tix to Sundance online every year that I can’t go, and Cookie Queens was as hot a ticket as they come. It sold out (it’s not screening online) the first day tickets were available, and I didn’t get one.
Rupert Murdoch is still upset that Harry won his case & was awarded a large sum of monies against THE SUN’s illegal behavior in writing stories about him. Murdoch is a low-life bottom feeder that owns THE NY POST, hence Page Six’s campaign of hate against the Sussexes. Eventually, they are going to cross the line & get sued in the US. They are truly a racist publication.