SMAUG has been revealed - and is ready to take on the sky.
Ten days ahead of the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Air New Zealand has unveiled a Boeing 777-300 aircraft with the 54m-long dragon emblazoned on both sides.
The first film in The Hobbit Trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey famously featured just Smaug's eye, leaving it to fans to envisage for themselves how he might look in Peter Jackson's imagination.
Air New Zealand’s newly decorated Desolation of Smaug plane. Source: Supplied
This is the second 777-300 inspired by The Hobbit Trilogy in the Air New Zealand fleet.
The first was unveiled last year to coincide with the launch of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Hobbit director Sir Peter Jackson said the project was awe inspiring.
"To see Smaug fly off the big screen and into the skies like this is pretty exciting," he said.
"We're proud to debut him here in New Zealand, where our team has worked so hard to bring him to life."
Painters at work on the aircraft depiction of Smaug. Source: Supplied
Visual effects supervisor Eric Saindon of Weta Digital said fitting the design on an aircraft was no mean feat.
"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," he said.
"It was great to see Smaug brought to life, and he appears even larger in the film!"
The aircraft's first flight as Smaug is to Los Angeles, where it will arrive just in time for the film's premiere.
The newly unveiled plane is prepared for takeoff. Source: Supplied
As part of its global marketing campaign around The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the airline has also released a video entitled "Just another day in Middle-earth", which features staff from across its business, with a magical Hobbit movie-inspired twist.
The video has been viewed online 1.5 million times in less than two weeks.
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