Phantom Thread has been voted Best Film of 2018 by the members of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics. The vote was decided by 473 critics from all over the world, who chose this production from among all of the films premiered after 1 July 2017. The other three finalists were Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri by Martin McDonagh (City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award 2017), Zimna wojna / Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski, Best Director Award in Cannes, programmed this year in Perlak, and Zama, by Lucrecia Martel.

This is the third time that Paul Thomas Anderson will have received the award in San Sebastian. In 2008 he received the accolade for his film There Will Be Blood and in 2000, for Magnolia. The North American filmmaker has received the Golden Bear in Berlin for Magnolia, the Best Director Award in Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and the Silver Bear for Best Director and two Academy Awards with There Will Be Blood.

Since its creation in 1999, the Fipresci Grand Prix has gone to highly-acclaimed filmmakers including Pedro Almodóvar, Michael Haneke, Cristian Mungiu, Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Linklater, Roman Polanski, George Miller, Maren Ade and Aki Kaurismäki.

Phantom Thread was released in Spain by Universal Pictures Spain.