The Square premiered on January 17, 2013, at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for World Cinema in the documentary category.

Due to the ongoing nature of the Egyptian Revolution, Noujaim updated the ending of the film over the summer of 2013.

Scott of The New York Times wrote, "The Square, while it records the gruesome collision of utopian aspirations with cold political realities, is not a despairing film.

"[10] The Chicago Tribune described it as "[a] compelling inside look at the cascading series of revolutions and counterrevolutions that have shaken Egypt since the beginning of 2011.

"[11] The Washington Post described it as "elegantly shot and structured, but infused with rough, spontaneous energy; global in its consciousness but intimate in its approach; carefully pitched but emotionally wrenching; deeply troubling but ultimately exhilarating.