Has Taika Waititi become the king of Super Bowl ads? Photos / Getty Images
Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi has spent the last two decades making a name for himself as one of the hottest directors on the planet.
Now the Hollywood big hitter is diversifying his portfolio, adding sought-after Super Bowl commercial director to his already glowing CV.
This year, Waititi directed three ads - more than any other creative - that screened during the States’ biggest sporting event and pocketed up to an estimated $10 million for this efforts.
He had directorial credits on an ad reimagining Jurassic Park for internet company Xfinity, which featured members of the movie’s original cast, including fellow Kiwi Sir Sam Neill.
On top of that, Waititi acted in and directed Pepsi’s The Choice commercial, which took aim at rival brand Coca-Cola, and he also directed a heart-warming sequel to his 2025 Lays chips Little Farmer commercial.
With three directorial advertisement credits screening during this year’s Super Bowl, it meant the 50-year-old was the most-booked director for the spots, which command the highest premium of any television ad. A 30-second ad during the broadcast will cost a company between US$8-10 million ($13-16m).
Waititi was in good company. Greek filmmaker and director of Poor Things and Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos, directed two ads.
It’s not the first time Waititi has dominated the Super Bowl.
In 2025, Hollywood actor-turned-director Ben Affleck directed two commercials, but Waititi was behind four, including the now viral Mountain Dew commercial, where Seal the singer turns into seal the animal.
And his Lays Little Farmer ads have made a mark, recently topping digital marketing platform System1’s viewer sentiment poll of Big Game ads.
The actor, director and award-winning writer achieved major mainstream success directing Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and went on to win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit (2019).
He also created and directed local hits including Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) and What We Do in the Shadows (2014).
Waititi, who is married to UK pop star Rita Ora, is known within the entertainment industry for his ability to create powerful storytelling with humour and isn’t afraid to draw on an understated Kiwi aesthetic.
His star power is amplified by his ability to move between directing, acting and writing, and he often takes on roles in his own projects, further showcasing his unique brand.
Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of San Francisco advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, who hired Waititi to create their Xfinity X Jurassic Park Super Bowl ad, told USA Today, “Taika’s ability to get the cast laughing early and often allowed them to embrace the absurdity of our premise”.
“The spot also needed a cinephile behind the camera so that Steven [Spielberg] would feel that Jurassic was in good hands. Finally, we needed someone who respected the story and understood the original footage.”
According to Goodby, Waititi was the perfect person for the job.
Logistically, it’s easy to see why directing a Super Bowl ad in 2026 is appealing to Hollywood’s biggest names.
The production schedule on Super Bowl ads is compressed compared to a film shoot, meaning directors can fit the commercials in between bigger projects, as shooting often takes just a few days and the final product can be created in as little as a week.
For Waititi, who is writing and directing a new Star Wars film, finishing his long-term film project Klara and the Sun and developing a Netflix series based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the short time commitment would have likely appealed.
Waititi has also revealed he uses ad projects as a way to experiment and have fun.
“Selfishly, I’ve used the world of making commercials as my filmmaking gym,” Waititi said in an interview with Fast Company magazine.
“It’s fun to play with the creative space, and it’s not as risky for me when I’m making commercials,” he added.
But it’s not cheap to get someone like Waititi to play in your backyard.
According to advertising operations management platform XR (Extreme Reach), big-name directors are typically paid around US$500,000 ($830,000) for regular ad spots, and over US$2m ($3.3m) for a Super Bowl commercial, though fees can vary depending on the scope of the job.
Adweek revealed that, as a share of an ad’s budget, “director fees generally represent between 5% and 7%, with most ads landing in the US$10-20m [budget] range”.
The numbers mean Waititi could potentially have nabbed a nearly $10m payday for the combination of the three Super Bowl ads he directed in 2026.
Commercial spots haven’t always drawn big names, but that has changed with bigger budgets and bigger brand spend.
The Super Bowl’s increasing reach has also meant that new crowds and new ad revenues are opening up. In 2025, partially due to Taylor Swift fans desperate to catch that on-field kiss with her boyfriend and Kansas City Chiefs player, Travis Kelce, a record 127.7 million people watched the Super Bowl. It meant those ad spots got even more expensive to secure.
“The bottom line is that the budgets have gone up,” Petur Workman, managing director of The Workman Agency, told Adweek. “The need for high-quality cinematic content has gone up. Brands are utilising more big-name or cinematic directors because they need the wow factor.”
In 2023, only six ads were made by big Hollywood directors, but that number doubled to 12 in 2025.
In 2026, nine ads were made by Hollywood directors, including Her creator Spike Jones, Top Gun Maverick director Joseph Kosinski and The Words writer and director Brian Klugman.
While big-name directors are cashing in, the next generation of Hollywood big hitters is making their mark too.
New Zealand director, Christchurch-born Damien Shatford, who also created Sparks’ Split commercial series, got his Super Bowl directorial debut this year with Bud Light’s Keg commercial that featured singer Post Malone, retired football player Peyton Manning and comedian Shane Gillis.
The ad has been viewed over three million times on the beer brand’s YouTube channel alone, and premiered for the Super Bowl’s estimated 135 million viewers.
And Special US (a division of NZ ad and PR agency Special PR) were the creative agency behind Uber Eats’ Super Bowl commercial, starring Hollywood actors Matthew McConaughey and Bradley Cooper.