Chicago (A3CHC) firmly grabbed the frontrunner spot for Best Picture and Best Director over the weekend after winning honors from the Directors Guild of America.

Rob Marshall's (A3RMA) win at the 55th Annual Directors Guild Awards is considered an upset by many. Since its inception in 1949, only five DGA winners have failed to capture the Oscar for Best Director. Prior to Sunday's ceremony, Martin Scorsese (A3MSC) was considered the sentimental favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Director. Instead, Scorsese was awarded the honorary DGA award for lifetime directorial achievement. This puts Marshall in the pole position to take home Oscar. Chicago was Marshall's directorial debut.

Other nominees for the DGA Award were the exiled Roman Polanski (A3RPO) for The Pianist (A3PIA), Stephen Daldry (A3SDA) for The Hours (A3HRS), and Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (A3LR2).

This almost mirrors the Oscar nominees, only instead of Jackson, Spain's Pedro Almodovar (A3PAL) is nominated for Talk to Her (A3OTA).

On the Movie Market™, Awards Options are bucking the DGA trend of predicting the Best Director winner. Scorsese still leads the pack of Best Director Award Options. His security currently trades at H$10.98, well above of his nearest competitor, Rob Marshall, which is at H$5.00. Marshall's option is up 18.5 percent in the wake of his DGA nod.

While the Windy City was blowing over the DGA, Chicago was also winning honors over at the Producer's Guild of America. Chicago bested other PGA nominees Adaptation (A3AAD), Gangs of New York (A3GNY), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (A3LR2), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (A3OMB), and Road to Perdition to take home the top prize.

On the Hollywood Stock Exchange®, Chicago continues to dominate the race for Best Picture. Its Award Option is trading at H$14.62, which is so far above any other nominee in this category that we might as well hand it over the Oscar right now.

The Pianist is in second place amongst Best Picture Award Options at H$3.05. Gangs of New York comes in third at H$2.66, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is in fourth at $2.53, and The Hours is dead last at $2.27.

The 75th Annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, March 23, in Los Angeles. Until then, you've got time to get in on the Award Options and beef up your portfolio. Rob Marshall's option for Best Director sure seems like a good bet to me.