Air New Zealand has unveiled a new Hobbit themed promotional scheme on one of its 777-300ERs as part of its sponsorship of the latest made-in-New Zealand film in the Hobbit movie franchise.
ZK-OKO was unveiled in Auckland on Monday morning wearing 54 metre long decals along each side of its fuselage of the the dragon Smaug. The decals were designed by Wellington-based visual effects company Weta Digital.
“Capturing Smaug’s presence and the amazing detail in his design while accommodating the windows, doors and wing shape was quite a different experience for us,” said Eric Saindon, visual effects supervisor at Weta, the company responsible for the digital effects in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films.
The 777-300ER was due to fly Los Angeles later on Monday to coincide with the The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug‘s release there on December 2.
