Mainichi Film Award for Best Film
A list of the winners of the Award for Best Film at the Mainichi Film Award.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 1946 | Aru yo no Tonosama | Teinosuke Kinugasa |
| 1947 | Ima Hitotabi no | Heinosuke Gosho |
| 1948 | Drunken Angel | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1949 | Late Spring | Yasujirō Ozu |
| 1950 | Until We Meet Again | Tadashi Imai |
| 1951 | Repast | Mikio Naruse |
| 1952 | Ikiru | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1953 | An Inlet of Muddy Water | Tadashi Imai |
| 1954 | Twenty-Four Eyes | Keisuke Kinoshita |
| 1955 | Floating Clouds | Mikio Naruse |
| 1956 | Mahiru no ankoku | Tadashi Imai |
| 1957 | The Rice People | Tadashi Imai |
| 1958 | The Ballad of Narayama | Keisuke Kinoshita |
| 1959 | Kiku to Isamu | Tadashi Imai |
| 1960 | Her Brother | Kon Ichikawa |
| 1961 | A Soldier's Prayer | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 1962 | Harakiri | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 1963 | High and Low | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1964 | Woman in the Dunes | Hiroshi Teshigahara |
| 1965 | Red Beard | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1966 | Shiroi Kyotou | Satsuo Yamamoto |
| 1967 | Samurai Rebellion | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 1968 | The Profound Desire of the Gods | Shohei Imamura |
| 1969 | Double Suicide | Masahiro Shinoda |
| 1970 | Kazoku | Yoji Yamada |
| 1971 | Silence | Masahiro Shinoda |
| 1972 | Shinobu Kawa | Kei Kumai |
| 1973 | Tsugaru Jongarabushi | Kōichi Saitō |
| 1974 | Castle of Sand | Yoshitaro Nomura |
| 1975 | The Fossil | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 1976 | Fumou Chitai | Satsuo Yamamoto |
| 1977 | The Yellow Handkerchief | Yoji Yamada |
| 1978 | The Incident | Yoshitaro Nomura |
| 1979 | Ah! Nomugi Toge | Satsuo Yamamoto |
| 1980 | Kagemusha | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1981 | Muddy River | Kōhei Oguri |
| 1982 | Fall Guy | Kinji Fukasaku |
| 1983 | Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence | Nagisa Oshima |
| 1984 | W's Tragedy | Shinichiro Sawai |
| 1985 | Ran | Akira Kurosawa |
| 1986 | Umi to Dokuyaku | Kei Kumai |
| 1987 | A Taxing Woman | Juzo Itami |
| 1988 | My Neighbor Totoro | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 1989 | Black Rain | Shohei Imamura |
| 1990 | Childhood Days | Masahiro Shinoda |
| 1991 | My Sons | Yoji Yamada |
| 1992 | Sumo Do, Sumo Don't | Masayuki Suo |
| 1993 | All Under the Moon | Yoichi Sai |
| 1994 | A Dedicated Life | Kazuo Hara |
| 1995 | A Last Note | Kaneto Shindo |
| 1996 | Shall We Dance? | Masayuki Suo |
| 1997 | Princess Mononoke | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 1998 | Begging for Love | Hideyuki Hirayama |
| 1999 | Poppoya | Yasuo Furuhata |
| 2000 | Face | Junji Sakamoto |
| 2001 | Spirited Away | Hayao Miyazaki |
| 2002 | The Twilight Samurai | Yoji Yamada |
| 2003 | Akame 48 Waterfalls | Genjiro Arato |
| 2004 | Blood and Bones | Yoichi Sai |
| 2005 | Pacchigi! | Kazuyuki Izutsu |
| 2006 | Sway | Miwa Nishikawa |
| 2007 | I Just Didn't Do It | Masayuki Suo |
| 2008 | Departures | Yōjirō Takita |
| 2009 | Shizumanu Taiyō | Setsurō Wakamatsu |
| 2010 | Villain | Lee Sang-il |
| 2011 | Postcard | Kaneto Shindo |
| 2012 | A Terminal Trust | Masayuki Suo |
| 2013 | The Great Passage | Yuya Ishii |
| 2014 | My Man | Kazuyoshi Kumakiri |
| 2015 | Three Stories of Love | Ryōsuke Hashiguchi |
| 2016 | Shin Godzilla | Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi |
| 2017 | Hanagatami | Nobuhiko Obayashi |
| 2018 | Shoplifters | Hirokazu Kore-eda |
| 2019 | Listen to the Universe | Kei Ishikawa |