Samuel Goldwyn Gambles Big on French de Gaulle Epic for American Screens

Antonin Baudry's two-part historical epic premiered stateside this weekend at the American French Film Festival in LA, and it hit different—packed houses gave both films back-to-back standing ovations that stretched seven minutes. Each installment runs over two and a half hours, so we're talking serious commitment from the crowd.

The scale here is no joke: €74 million in production costs, which tells you this isn't some regional arthouse flex. Samuel Goldwyn is betting that American audiences will actually care about de Gaulle's story as something more than a history textbook footnote. The pitch is basically "this is about an ally," which is a fair way to frame a figure most U.S. viewers know only in outline.

Whether a French-language wartime saga can crack mainstream U.S. distribution is the real question. Art films get love at festivals, but the jump to theaters is steep. Still, if those ovations mean anything, Goldwyn might have the cultural ammunition to make this work—or at least earn serious festival consideration down the line.

Read the full story at Variety → https://variety.com/2026/film/global/goldwyn-french-ww2-epic-de-gaulle-crossing-over-u-s-audiences-1236942834/