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Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “De Gaulle,” Antonin Baudry’ssprawling two-part historical epic that premiered out of competition at Cannes and was just shortlisted to represent France
in the Oscar race.
The distributor is planning a U.S. theatrical release in November or December 2026 for the €70 million ($82 million) production, which chronicles Charles de Gaulle’s rise as the face of the French resistance during World War II.
Produced by Pathé, “De Gaulle” has already grossed $48 million from more than 5.6 million admissions in France, becoming one of the year’s biggest box office hits thanks mainly to word-of-mouth. It’s a rare feat for a historical sagaabout one of France’s most towering political figures. The two films have also sold to more than 51 territories worldwide.
Directed by Baudry, whose credits include submarine thriller “The Wolf’s Call,” “De Gaulle” begins in June 1940, as the general refuses to accept France’s defeat by Nazi Germany and flees to London, where he sets out to convince the Allies that the battle for France is far from over. Moving between London, Paris, Casablanca and Dakar, the saga follows de Gaulle as he navigates his often-fraught relationships with Allied leaders including Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, while resistance fighters, students and soldiers begin rallying behind his call.
Based on British historian Julian Jackson’s biography “De Gaulle: A Certain Idea of France,” the film blends the sweep of a wartime epic with the mechanics of a geopolitical thriller.
Simon Abkarian stars as de Gaulle opposite Simon Russell Beale as Churchill. The ensemble also includes Benoît Magimel, Mathieu Kassovitz, Niels Schneider, Karim Leklou and Anamaria Vartolomei, along with Campbell Scott as Roosevelt, Daniel Betts as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Pip Torrens as Bernard Montgomery.
“‘De Gaulle’ was conceived as a cinematic event: two films, an extraordinary cast, and a story whose scale demanded to be experienced on the big screen,” said Marie-Laure Montironi, EVP of international sales at Pathé Films. “We are thrilled that Samuel Goldwyn Films will bring this ambitious French production to American audiences. The extraordinary response in France has demonstrated that this is not simply a film about history — it is a story that speaks powerfully to the present.”
The Samuel Goldwyn deal gives “De Gaulle” another major theatrical market as Pathé looks to extend the international momentum of the film which became an unlikely French summer blockbuster. The U.S. company previously distributed Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-winning film “Another Round,” and other films that were nominated in the international feature category, such as “The Man Who Sold His Skin” and “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”
Pathé is looking ahead at a busy awards season as the French studio is behind a second film which made the French Oscar shortlist, Arthur Harari’s Cannes competition title “The Unknown,” a gender-swapping drama starring Lea Seydoux and Schneider (who also has a significant role in “De Gaulle”). Pathé is also active in the fall festival circuit with Florian Zeller’s Venice and Toronto premiering “Bunker,” a psychological thriller starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. Pathé will release Zeller’s film in France.
