Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix film could become ‘one of the platform’s biggest hits ever’, as movie expert Purple Heart says – with 182 million households expected to watch the Meet Me at the Lake adaptation

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix movie could be a huge hit for the platform, an expert said.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex bought the rights to Carley Fortune’s romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake at an estimated cost of up to £3 million.

Fortune’s second novel, a New York Times best-selling author, is a romance about two long-lost lovers, Will and Fern, whose paths coincidentally cross ten years after first meeting and sparks fly between the pair.

The book has just the right formula to raise millions for Netflix, movie expert and founder of Movie Metropolis Adam Brannon told FEMAIL.

“There is potential for Meet Me at the Lake to become one of Netflix’s most popular films, alongside Red Notice, The Adam Project, Purple Hearts and Extraction.

“Romantic movies, especially those based on novels, generally perform very well on the streaming service and become sleeper hits where they quietly accumulate millions of viewing hours over a longer period of time compared to total blockbusters.”

While Netflix doesn’t release official ratings, they previously revealed that Red Notice had 364,020,000 ratings in its first 28 days of release – meaning approximately 182 million households watched it.

An insider previously said the Sussexes were interested in the novel because of the themes it explores.

But it could also be a smart move for the couple as romantic movies are doing very well for the streaming service.

In the plot, the two main characters struggle with grief, complicated family situations and an unexpected love story – all of which can resonate with the Sussexes and their own love story.

It resembles Purple Hearts, one of Netflix’s most successful movies ever.

The film, which was released last year, would have been streamed more than the Oscar-nominated Scorsese film The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.

Despite a relatively unknown cast, the film was the third most-streamed of 2022.

It tells the story of an aspiring musician who agrees to a sham marriage with a soon-to-be-deployed Marine, but tragedy soon makes their phony relationship too real.

And like Meet Me At The Lake, it’s based on Tess Wakefield’s novel of the same name.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Adam added, “Reviews of the novel have been very positive and it was also in the New York Times top 10 list for two weeks, which is a positive sign.

Additionally, publications have been building hype ever since the news was shared that Harry and Meghan have bought the movie rights with their new production company Archewell Productions.

“It will probably be a top movie for the streaming service, possibly mainly as a curiosity.

The same is true when a ‘celebrity’ starts filmmaking. Of course, the results can be mixed, with Madonna being a prime example of a celeb who has been criticized for her efforts in front of and behind the camera.

This is the couple’s third Netflix project following the incredibly successful Harry & Meghan documentary and an unpremiered docuseries titled Heart of Invictus.

However, this will be their first foray into filmmaking, a notoriously different beast.

“Making a movie is no small feat, and there will be a lot of eyes on the process, both from fans of the famous couple and their critics, scrutinizing everything from budgets to casting choices, who’s going to tackle the score and much more.

‘In the UK, it’s likely that the controversy surrounding the celebrity couple could hamper viewing hours here.

Britons, especially those of an older generation, are known for protecting the monarchy and given the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, sentiment towards both Harry and Meghan is sour.

To get the best insight into this, just look at the comments on articles of this news in the US versus the UK – they are remarkably different.

Harry and Meghan clearly have pulling power for Netflix as well.

Part one of their bombshell documentary released last year debuted with 81.55 million hours of views.

The first episode, which told the story of how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex met and started dating, was watched by an average of 4.5 million people in the UK in the seven days following its premiere on December 8.

It eclipsed the 2.8 million people who tuned in for the first episode of The Crown’s new series, released on November 9, with over one and a half million views.

In September 2020, the couple announced a partnership with Netflix to work on a number of projects with their company Archewell Productions, including documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s shows.

In an official statement released at the time, they said: ‘Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, we also find it important to create inspiring family programmes.’

They added that Netflix’s “unprecedented reach will help (them) share impactful content that unlocks action.”

In July 2021, the Duchess announced her first project with Netflix, an animated series called Pearl, in which she would take on the roles of creator and executive producer.

However, in the following May, Pearl was dropped by the streaming platform as part of a wave of budget cuts due to their decline in subscribers.