The film had its North American premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, after its international premiere at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It was released in the United States on June 22, 2018. Between its premiere at Cannes and its commercial release, the film's named was changed from "Promised Land" to "The King". Described as, “the best recent film about how the hell we got here; and more” by David Ehrlich from IndieWire”, "The King" proved highly popular. Receiving an average rating of 7.2/10 by review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary generated $29,050 in domestic gross profit during the opening weekend of June 22 to June 24 and was nominated for Best Documentary and Outstanding Historical Documentary at the News &amp; Documentary Emmy Awards. The documentary was additionally nominated for the Best Music Film at the Grammy Awards, and the Golden Eye award at the Cannes Film Festival.