'Critical Role' comes back to the big screen for its 7-year anniversary

There’s a second-level transmutation spell in Dungeons & Dragons that lets wizards enlarge their targets, making them grow huge. Well, somebody behind the scenes at Critical Role must have it in their spellbook, because the popular webseries where “nerdy-ass voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons” is headed to the big screen to celebrate its seventh anniversary. 

Critical Role began as a simple game of D&D that a few friends played for one of their birthdays. Since then, it has evolved into a weekly streaming show on Twitch that pulls in thousands of viewers, official D&D books exploring its fantasy setting, and even an animated show on Amazon, The Legend of Vox Machina. The flagship Critical Role show will be celebrating its seventh anniversary on March 17. As always, the episode will stream on Twitch and later be available on YouTube and as a podcast, but die-hard fans can also catch the episode in select movie theaters. 

The episode — the 17th episode of the show’s ongoing Campaign 3 — will air at 10 p.m. Eastern. Thanks to a partnership with Cinemark, Landmark Theatres, and Cinépolis, it will be in 55 movie theaters across the country. Screenings can be found in select cities in the following states:  Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virgina, and Washington. Additionally, there will be screenings in Brazil in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Tickets, which can be pre-ordered here, start at $25 dollars. For $40 at certain screening locations, fans can also get a t-shirt with their ticket. 

The third Campaign — basically the third season for D&D newbies — began in October, and Critical Role took advantage of the big screen for that event, too. What exactly fans can expect from the upcoming event remains to be seen. On the one hand, it’s a celebration of seven years of Critical Role. On the other hand, it is the 17th episode of the Campaign, and due to the improvised nature of D&D, it’s hard to say if anything especially momentous will happen. Stil, for fans of Critical Role — especially fans who might be willing to stay out until 1 or 2 in the morning depending on how long the episode goes — seeing the party in a movie theater with other Critters should be a treat. 

It’s all just another way that Campaign 3 is doing things previous campaigns had never done. “Marisha (Ray) has been saying all bets are off this entire time, and that really is the case,” Liam O’Brien, who plays the halfling fighter Orym in Campaign 3, told SYFY WIRE in November.  “Nothing is set in stone. Anything is possible.”