Although a late starter among the leading motion picture companies in Japan, Daiei was regarded a respected, longstanding company because it mainly inherited Nikkatsu Corporation's prewar film-making organization including the production division of Shinko Cinema (formerly known as the Teikoku Cinema) which was merged at the time of establishment and was split in the postwar period to become a parent organization of Toei Company, Ltd.
会社自体は大手の中では後発だが、戦前の日活の製作機構を主に引き継いでいる（発足時に合併で得た新興＝帝キネの製作部門は戦後に分離し東映の母体となる）ため伝統ある老舗として語られることが多い。