Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have witnessed their Hollywood influence and popularity ratings nosedive since losing their lucrative Netflix deal five months ago.
It determines an ever-shifting “league table” of the most sought-after stars, directors, producers, podcasters and other prominent figures across the entertainment industry.
Last week’s rankings revealed that former actress Meghan, 44 — who has twice topped the Starmeter previously — had dropped to 2,133rd position. The Duke of Sussex’s slide into Hollywood irrelevance was even more pronounced.
His peak rating stood at number 12 in January 2023, following the release of his contentious memoir Spare, but he now finds himself languishing in 36,600th place.
A senior Hollywood production insider said to the Express, “That’s not a mistake or a misprint. Harry’s right down there with the unknowns and also-rans.
“I think Meghan would have been way further down the ladder too were it not for the limited popularity of her online brand (As Ever), a brief revival of her TV series (the legal drama Suits) last year and a Christmas special of her cookery show (With Love, Meghan – which has now been cancelled by Netflix after two seasons).”
The streaming giant also chose last September not to renew its contract with the couple’s production company Archewell, a deal worth approximately $100 million over the previous three years and widely regarded as their “golden ticket” to becoming serious Hollywood power players.
The partnership did produce the record-breaking tell-all documentary series Harry & Meghan in December 2022, but subsequent projects failed to replicate that success.Their once-in-a-lifetime deal has since been replaced by a “first look” agreement, meaning the couple must pitch ideas to Netflix executives and will only be compensated for those that receive the green light from studio bosses.
Meghan, who had built a substantial Suits fan base before meeting Harry, 41, first shot to the top of the Starmeter at the end of 2017 following their engagement announcement, and reclaimed the number one spot in March 2021 after their widely-discussed TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Now the couple, who spent two days in Jordan last week on a “quasi-royal” humanitarian trip, must work to reestablish Archewell as a credible Hollywood powerhouse. A senior production source revealed, “Meghan has already reached out to her agents (WME) and experts in the PR department at Netflix in an effort to fix her and Harry’s downward-trending images and boost their industry appeal.
“But the fact is you have to put in the work to get the recognition – and they just aren’t doing that”. Archewell were approached for comment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
