The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has named its nominees for best commercial director of 2007: Dante Ariola, Fredrik Bond, Frank Budgen, Nicolai Fuglsig and Noam Murro.
Ariola, who won the DGA Award last year, Bond and Fuglsig are all with bicoastal/international MJZ. Budgen directs via Gorgeous Enterprises, London, and is handled stateside by bicoastal Anonymous Content. And Murro is with Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles.
MJZ’s strong showing continues an impressive DGA Awards run for the company. This marks the fifth time in six years that MJZ has had more than one nominee for the coveted DGA commercial director of the year honor. And scoring three of the five nominees this time around doesn’t even represent the high water mark for the production house. In the competition for the DGA Award recognizing the best director of 2005, MJZ had four of the five nominees (Craig Gillespie, who won the award, Spike Jonze, Rocky Morton and Rupert Sanders). Last year, MJZ had two nominees–Ariola, who won the award, and Tom Kuntz. And MJZ had a pair of nominees for the ’04 (Ariola and Bond) and ’02 honors (Ariola and Gillespie).
MJZ directors have won the DGA Award each of the last two years–Ariola as best director of ’06 and Gillespie for ’05.
Two who take the fifth
This latest DGA nomination represents the fifth of Ariola’s career. He has earned his most recent one on the strength of three commercials: Sony PlayStation 3’s “Grenade” from TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, Wrigley’s “Flare” via Energy BBDO, Chicago, and Nike’s “Addicted” from Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam.
Meanwhile Biscuit’s Murro has built a most impressive DGA Awards tradition of his own. This marks the fifth time in the last six years that he has been nominated for the DGA honor. Murro won the DGA Award as best commercials director of ’04. This time around, Murro is nominated for: Volkswagen Golf’s “Night Drive” out of DDB London; Orbit Gum’s “Affair” from Energy BBDO Chicago; and the National Basketball Association’s “Remember” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Bond, Budgen, Fuglsig While Murro and Ariola are past DGA Award winners, the rest of the field consists of Bond, who has two career nominations, and a pair of first-time DGA Award nominees, Budgen and Fuglsig.
Bond’s latest nomination comes on the basis of the California Milk Processor Board’s “Straw” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and JC Penney’s “Aviator” from Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
Budgen becomes a DGA Award nominee on the strength of Sony Bravia’s “Playdoh” for Fallon, London (produced by Gorgeous) and Live Earth’s “S.O.S., Save Our Selves” (produced by Anonymous and Gorgeous) via Young & Rubicam, Chicago.
Fuglsig is nominated for Guinness’ “Tipping Point” and Motorola’s “Journey,” both from Abbot Mead Vickers/BBDO London, and JC Penney’s “It’s Magic” out of Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
The DGA Awards are in their 60th year. The DGA opened the annual competition to commercial directors in 1980. This year’s DGA Award winners–spanning theatrical features, TV, documentaries and commercials–will be announced and honored during a gala evening ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 26.
Among this year’s feature film DGA Award nominees are the Coen Brothers for No Country For Old Men. The Coens are handled for commercials by Company, a Los Angeles-based house headed by executive producer Robin Benson.
“Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Sonic 3” Rule Box Office For 1st Weekend Of 2025
The Walt Disney Co.'s "Mufasa: The Lion King" claimed the No. 1 spot on the North American box office charts over the first weekend of 2025.
The photorealistic "Lion King" prequel earned $23.8 million in its third weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Paramount's "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," which has dominated the past two weekends, wasn't far behind.
"Sonic 3" stayed close with a 3-day estimate of $21.2 million, bringing its total domestic earnings to $187.5 million and helping the overall franchise cross $1 billion worldwide. "Mufasa's" running total is slightly less, with $169.2 million.
In third place, Focus Features' "Nosferatu" remake defied the fate of so many of its genre predecessors and fell only 39% in its second weekend. Horror films typically fall sharply after the first weekend and anything less than a 50% decline is notable. "Nosferatu," which added 140 screens, claimed $13.2 million in ticket sales, bringing its running total to $69.4 million since its Christmas debut. The film, directed by Robert Eggers, already surpassed its reported production budget of $50 million, though that figure does not account for marketing and promotion expenses).
No new wide releases opened this weekend, leaving the box office top 10 once again to holdovers from previous weeks. Several have been in theaters since Thanksgiving. One of those, "Moana 2," claimed the No. 4 spot for Disney in its sixth weekend in theaters. The animated sequel earned another $12.4 million, bumping its global total to $960.5 million.
The Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," dipped only slightly in its second weekend, bringing in $8.1 million. With $41.7 million total, it's Searchlight's highest grossing film since Disney acquired the company in... Read More