Critical Role celebrates 7th anniversary with return to some theatres; local fans can enjoy their digital events

Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role is celebrating the seventh anniversary of its flagship show on March 17, 7pm Pacific Time (March 18, 10am SGT).

But this time, the bunch of nerdy voice actors won't just be streaming on Twitch as per usual.

For the seventh anniversary, the founders are heading back to the theatres with a simulcast of their live showing of episode 17 of Campaign Three.

For the uninitiated, Critical Role started as a roleplaying game between friends and professional voice actors Matthew Mercer (Overwatch), Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us), Marisha Ray (Final Fantasy XV), Taliesin Jaffe (Final Fantasy XIV), Travis Willingham (Marvel's Avengers), Sam Riegel (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Laura Bailey (The Last of Us: Part II) and Liam O'Brien (Star Wars: The Bad Batch).

It rose to fame as a Dungeons & Dragons stream on Twitch — it was recently revealed to be the top-earning channel — and evolved into a multimedia empire.

Now in its third campaign, the show is set in the fictional world of Exandria, and specifically, the continent of Marquet. From the dusty canyons of the Hellcatch Valley, to the rising plateaus of the Taloned Highlands, many wild adventures and mysteries are waiting to be uncovered by this ragtag group of adventurers.

Unfortunately, local fans won't be able to enjoy the simulcast in theatres.

According to the release, Critical Role has only partnered with US movie theatre chains Cinemark and Landmark Theatres, as well as Mexican movie theatre chain Cinepolis. There will also be three international screenings in Brazil in collaboration with Cinemark.

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Tickets start at US$25 (S$33.95), with select Cinemark theatres offering a US$40 super-ticket featuring a t-shirt and seat combo

This is the second time Critical Role will be having a simulcast in theatres, with the premiere of Campaign Three being their first.

"Following the massive response from our third campaign's theatrical premiere, we knew we wanted to bring our show back to the big screen where people can gather safely and enjoy the experience collectively," said Travis, Critical Role's CEO.

However, Critical Role has promised "a ton of fun digital events" on the week of March 14 so local fans can look forward to that.

If you haven't already, we also suggest watching their animated series The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime Video.

In the meantime, you can always tune in to their Twitch or YouTube stream every Thursday (except the last Thursday of the month) at 7pm Pacific Time.

bryanlim@asiaone.com