French court rejects bid for Duran Duboi

PARIS -- A French court has rejected FilmFunds' bid to acquire Quinta Industries' Duran Duboi, the Paris-based post-production and VFX house that was declared bankrupt last week. Duran, the company's animation arm, has been shuttered, whereas Duboi, the VFX and post-production arm, will remain open until Jan. 30. Duboi had been set to carry out the VFX on Laurent Tirard's 3D film "Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia," among other pics.The film's producers, Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc, said that the film will be completed on time. They are examining their options, and will likely hire another company to handle the visual effects, which will result in a considerable -- but not unmanageable -- cost surplus. French industryites, notably Gaul's film technicians org Ficam, have been up in arms about the collapse of Quinta Industries' three subsidiaries -- Duran Duboi, LTC and Scanlab -- as the companies were due to handle the post-production on 36 films. Ficam said that the five films that are being held by LTC have not been released because the administrator is insisting on immediate payment from the producers for the services provided. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com