The title launch of the film was held in 2022 in Sharjah at the Come On Kerala event.[8] On 4 November 2022, Prithviraj Sukumaran unveiled the film's motion poster through Facebook.[9]
Initially, the makers of the film had announced that Jailer would be released on 10 August 2023,[10] but with the release of Tamil-language Jailer on the same date being announced, the release date was later postponed by a week.[11][12] The film was released on 18 August 2023 across 85 theatres in Kerala and 40 theatres in GCC countries.[13][14]
Title dispute
The film's makers had disputes over the title with Rajinikanth'sJailer. According to director Sakkir Madathil, the title Jailer was registered with the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) in August 2021.[15] He had requested Sun Pictures consider changing the Tamil-language film's title when releases in Kerala. Later, both Sun Pictures and the makers of the Malayalam-language film took the title dispute to court.[16]
Reception
Critical reception
Princy Alexander of Onmanorama wrote "Overall, the dark and gloomy treatment of the film takes the sheen away from a movie made with good intentions."[17] S.R. Praveen of The Hindu wrote "Jailer seems to have been made with the intention of never giving the audience anything to cheer for... it does succeed in that endeavour."[18] Arjun Ramachandran of The South First gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote "Jailer is a film with a novel theme but works only in parts."[19]