BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The second movie of the Hobbit trilogy has been nominated for three nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards.
The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects.
The film won $ 800 million dollars box-office globally, which is the main competitor of Gravity that was also nominated in all three categories.
In terms of the storyline, The Desolation of Smaug continues Bilbo and Gandalf's quest with a company of 13 dwarves into the Kingdom of Erebor for a showdown with a treasure-loving dragon named Smaug.
In terms of visual effects, four-time Academy Award winner of visual effects, artist Joe Letteri said the team put into great amount of work on crafting the magical creature.
He explained that The Hobbit 2 upped its digital character count to 60 and that director Peter Jackson wanted to shoot the spider fight dimensionally to take advantage of stereo.
Moreover the barrel flume chase set piece was both live-action and CG, containing real rapids, a circular track, and 20 tons of digital water.
But naturally the CG Smaug was the centerpiece, totally key-framed and requiring complexity in facial animation, focusing on tongue, eyes, and lips.
However, the addition of two forefingers and thumb on his wings effectively gave him hands to gesture with.
In retrospect, The Hobbit 1 was also nominated for three Oscars but it missed out in best visual effects.