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Irish-British filmmaker Danny Boyle's underdog drama “Slumdog Millionaire” has won the Directors Guild of America (DGA) award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film (pictured above).

The DGA is tipped as a barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director and only six times since the DGA awards began in 1948 has the winner not gone on to receive the Best Director Oscar, reports contactmusic.com.

The award was presented to Boyle by Joel and Ethan Coen, the director team that won the 2007 DGA Feature Film Award for “No Country for Old Men”.
After winning the top honour from DGA, Danny Boyle appears to be on the inside track for an Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony on Feb 22.
The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film is often an accurate indicator of who will land the Oscar for directing as 55 of the 60 past DGA award winners also went on to win the Academy Award for directing.

British Indian actor Dev Patel and newcomer Freida Pinto were among the numerous presenters at the awards gala dinner in Los Angeles on Saturday, joining Hollywood actors like Sean Penn, Christian Bale and Jodie Foster.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is the eighth feature film directed by Boyle following such hits as "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later".

The heart-warming story of a poor boy from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win the Indian version of TV game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" has now won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild of America, Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards.

Meanwhile, with an estimated gross of $7,680,000 over Jan 30-Feb 1, down 28 percent from last weekend, "Slumdog Millionaire" has earned a whopping $67,244,000 in its 12 week run in the US.

Now playing in 1,633 theatres, up 222 from last weekend, the film's per-theatre average earning was $4,703, according to movie website boxofficeguru.com.