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No surprise there.  It goes without saying that James Cameron's sci-fi spectacle Avatar has the potential to clean house at the 8th Annual Ves Awards for its breath taking visuals by the acclaimed Weta Digital. Cameron will also be picking up a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.  In the outstanding animated feature category, the nominees include Up, 9, Coraline, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. 

The official press release is as followed:

3-D Films Dominate With Most Noms as Avatar grabs 11, Coraline 4, and Visual Effects Company Weta Digital Snags Most Company Noms with 9

Los Angeles, January 19, 2010 - The Visual Effects Society (Ves) today announced the nominees for the 8th Annual Ves Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games.  Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 16, 2010, by numerous blue ribbon panels of Ves members who...

James Cameron's "Avatar" led the list of nominations announced Monday by the Visual Effects Society, scooping up 11.

The animated "Coraline," another movie released in 3D, followed with four nominations.

New Zealand-based Weta Digital, which worked on "Avatar," led the company noms with nine.

For visual effects in an effects-driven motion picture feature, the nominees are "2012," "Avatar," "District 9," "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Noms for supporting visual effects in a movie went to "Angels & Demons," "The Box," "Invictus," "The Road" and "Sherlock Holmes."

  "9," "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," "Coraline," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Up" were nominated for outstanding animation in an animated feature.

Ves noms in 20 categories, covering film, animation, TV, commercials and video games were chosen Saturday by blue-ribbon panels of Ves members, meeting in Burbank, San Francisco and London.

The eighth annual Ves Awards will be handed out on Feb.

Despite being nominated for Best Drama and having its star Anna Paquin win Best Actress in a TV Drama at this year's Golden Globes, "True Blood" was shut out of the major categories for the 2009 Emmy Awards, which announced its nominees earlier today. But that's not to say it, and a few other genre-related shows, won't be showing up at the party.

Here's a list of the horror-tinged shows that were recognized (with a few others whose fanbase includes a lot of our readers thrown in for good measure):

Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series

Bones • The Hero In The Hold • Fox • 20th Century Fox Television

Michael Mayer, Production Designer

Gregory S. Richman, Art Director

Kimberly Wannop, Set Decorator

Heroes • Cold Snap • NBC • Universal Media Studios in association with Tailwind Productions

Ruth Ammon, Production Designer

Sandy Getzler, Art Director

Ron Franco, Set Decorator

True Blood • Burning House Of...