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Night at the Museum

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Night at the Museum
First promotional poster for the film
Directed byShawn Levy
Written byMilan Trenc (book)
Robert Ben Garant (screen story)
Thomas Lennon (screenplay)
Produced byShawn Levy
Chris Columbus
Stephen Sommers
StarringBen Stiller
Carla Gugino
Dick Van Dyke
Mickey Rooney
Bill Cobbs
Jake Cherry
Ricky Gervais
Robin Williams
Kim Raver
Patrick Gallagher
Rami Malek
Pierfrancesco Favino
Charlie Murphy
CinematographyGuillermo Navarro
Edited byDon Zimmerman
Music byAlan Silvestri
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
December 22, 2006
Running time
Theatrical:
108 minutes
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$110 million
Box officeDomestic:
$250,863,268
Worldwide:
$573,625,411[1]

Night at the Museum is a 2006 American adventure comedy film. It is based on The Night at the Museum, a 1993 children's book by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny. He applies for a job as a night watchman at New York City's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently discovers that the exhibits, animated by a magical Egyptian artifact, come to life at night.

Released on December 22, 2006, the film was written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and directed by Shawn Levy. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, Steve Coogan, and Owen Wilson. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a movie tie-in.

Plot

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a divorced father who is constantly unable to keep a stable job, the bulk of them being failed business ventures. He is desperate to win the support of his son Nick (Jake Cherry), whom he fears is beginning to look up to his more successful soon-to-be stepfather, Don (Paul Rudd), a bond trader on Wall Street. After being fired from his last job, he applies for a job at the Museum of Natural History, and is assigned as a night guard.

The three older, and soon to be unemployed, night guards, Cecil (Dick Van Dyke), Gus (Mickey Rooney), and Reginald (Bill Cobbs), give him a quick tour, advise him to leave some of the lights on, and warn him not to let anything "in...or out", which Larry meets with humorous skepticism. They leave some odd instructions for him.

Once night comes, Larry discovers that the museum exhibits come to life. Following the instructions --- 1: Throw the bone; 2: Lock up the lions, or they'll eat you; 3: Double-check your belt, because the monkey probably stole your keys --- Larry barely manages to make it through the night. First, Larry discovers a T. rex literally drinking from a water fountain! Solution? Larry throws the bone he has ripped from the skeleton of the T. rex ("Rexy," as he comes to nickname the beast). Then, despite a narrow escape in the wildlife exhibits, Larry manages to lock up the lions. Finally, he double-checks his belt, only to discover that indeed the monkey, a lovable Capuchin named Dexter, has in fact filched the aforenoted keys. And when Dexter rips the instruction manual to shreds, Larry is forced into monkey-style humiliation. And just when it seems things couldn't be more bizarre, Larry is eventually rescued from an odd feud pitting a Wild West buckaroo named Jedediah (Owen Wilson) against a Roman General named Octavius (Steve Coogan) by a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), who later explains that ever since an Egyptian tablet --- the Tablet of Akmenrah --- was brought to the museum in 1952 after the Nile expedition, everything comes to life each night. However, if the exhibits are outside of the museum by sunrise, they turn to dust. Roosevelt proceeds to help Larry by restoring order but insists that it will be the last time he shall ever do so.

While initially unnerved, Larry decides to stick it out on Cecil's advice. Larry begins to study the history of the events and people in the exhibits to prepare himself better. He meets Rebecca Hutman (Carla Gugino), who is writing a dissertation on the life and times of Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck), and learns much of the history of the various exhibits from her.

The next night, Larry uses what he's learned to better control the exhibits, but it once again goes bad. One of the Neanderthals sets fire to their display, which Larry extinguishes with a nearby fire extinguisher, while another escapes out a window and turns to dust when the sun rises. Larry barely manages to keep his job after the Museum's emotionless director, Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais), discovers the mess. Larry tries to tell Rebecca about what happens every night, even offering to let her meet Sacagawea to help with her dissertation, but Rebecca thinks that Larry is mocking her and leaves the museum visibly upset.

Two nights later, Larry brings Nick to the Museum. At first Nick isn't too convinced when nothing comes to life. Then, just as Larry barely covinces Nick to stick around, they become aware of shadows in the back of the security office. They immediately find Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the Tablet of Akmenrah, amongst other artifacts. Cecil then reveals the truth to Larry: like the museum exhibits, the Tablet gives life to the three night guards. Now accustomed to this new-found vigor, they are unwilling to give it up and were planning on stealing the Tablet, along with various other Museum artifacts to fund their retirement. They had in fact hoped to frame Larry for the theft. Nick, after prompting from Larry, turns an out-of-place panel that reactivates the tablet's power and brings the exhibits to life once more. Cecil grabs the tablet back and locks Nick and Larry in the Egyptian room.

Larry calls for Theodore Roosevelt for help, but Roosevelt insists that Larry solve this problem on his own. The only thing left for Larry to do is release the mummy of King Akmenrah (Rami Malek) himself, the owner of the tablet. As it turns out, Ahkmenrah is just another normal person underneath the bandages. He also surprisingly speaks English, to which he replies (when Nick inquires) that he spent many years at Cambridge University (as an exhibit in --- where else? --- the Egyptology Department). After Larry introduces himself and Nick, Akmenrah names them "Guardians of Brooklyn," and then asks them to bestow his Tablet upon him, so he can "claim his kingdom". Larry informs Ahkmenrah that the tablet has been stolen, forcing Ahkmenrah to order his jackal statues to break down the gate. The three new friends then set out to reclaim the tablet. They befriend Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), who two nights previously had wanted to tear Larry's limbs after the senior Daley's brief magic show experienced a bit of a magic malfunction. In the end, Larry, discovering that Attila lacks only a small speck of love, restores that speck to him when he reminds the mighty Hun of his childhood, reducing Attila to a blubbering barbarian. Succeeding quickly with this, Larry discovers that the other exhibits just will not stop fighting! Luckily, there's the resident Easter Island stone idol head around to restore some order. Larry then explains that their only chance is to stop fighting and start working together, because, in Larry's words, "Without that Tablet, all this --- this whole coming-to-life-at-night thing all goes away." Though the exhibits manage to capture Gus and Reginald, Cecil escapes with the tablet. But a vengeful Larry, aided by Nick, Akmenrah, Jed, Octavius and Attila, manages to capture Cecil, as well. But more than half of the animal and human exhibits are left outside, and the sun is just about ready to rise. Larry wastes no time in bestowing unto Ahkmenrah his Tablet, which he immediately uses to cast its spell that returns all the exhibits to the museum. Rebecca, in a taxicab, sees the exhibits crossing the road in front of her --- and realizes that Larry really was telling the truth. Entering the museum, she is introduced by Larry to Sacagawea ("You rock!" she proclaims. "I am a big fan!"), who then agrees to answer Rebecca's questions.

The next day, Dr. McPhee once again fires Larry despite his effort to clean up the museum, not to mention the vast media coverage resulting from the prior night's incident (believed by some to be either a kind of hoax or a publicity stunt), with even New York 1 News reporting the footage. But when that media coverage starts increasing the admissions and bringing in the visitors, the Doctor knows that he must rehire Larry, which he does. Later that same morning, Larry appears in Nick's classroom during Career Day. Later that night, all the exhibits, with Larry and Nick on the watch, are partying. "It's getting late," Larry tells Nick. But Nick isn't ready to go home --- because the celebration's only just beginning!

It is briefly revealed during the end credits that Larry didn't rat out Cecil, Gus and Reginald, but simply made the three pay him back by working as janitors. (And yes, they made for pretty good old-time dancers, too.)

Adaptation

The original book focuses on the hazing of a new guard helping with caring for the animals while searching for the hiding dinosaur skeletons. The movie has the new guard working alone after failing as an entrepreneur and adds family relationships, a reason for the exhibits becoming alive, a penalty for failure, and the thievery conflict.

Production

Primary filming was set to take place in Montreal, but Ben Stiller was reportedly unhappy about working there, and is fond of Vancouver, hence prompting a move to British Columbia. Originally, Stephen Sommers was the director of the project. He eventually left due to creative differences.

Larry's inability to remember Christopher Columbus' (Pierfrancesco Favino) name may be a wink and a nod to producer Chris Columbus. This idea is supported by Shawn Levy's DVD commentary, in which he mentions that Columbus advised him to concentrate on storyboarding any visual effects scenes prior to shooting, just like he had done on his two Harry Potter films.

The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a sound stage in Vancouver, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.[3] Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal, who plays the troublemaking monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Stiller in the film.[4] Director Shawn Levy credited Ben Stiller for the ensemble cast: "When actors hear that Ben Stiller is in a movie they want to work with him. It['s] a high-water mark and it absolutely draws actors in and I'm convinced that's a big part of why we got this cast."[5]

Cast

File:Benstillertrex.jpg
Ben Stiller claimed that he watched Tom Cruise in the three Mission Impossible films to learn how to imitate his running technique, shown here.[5]

Music

Songs

  • "Friday Night" - performed by McFly, not featured in American version of the film, but heard in some international cuts, used during the end credits.
  • "September" - performed by Earth, Wind & Fire, used before the end credits where everyone in the museum is partying.
  • "Weapon of Choice" - performed by Fatboy Slim, used in the scene where Larry returns to the museum for his second night and is preparing for the chaos.
  • "Tonight" - performed by Keke Palmer and Cham, used for the end credits.
  • "Eye of the Tiger" - performed by Ben Stiller, used in the scene where Larry is bored and messes around with the microphone at the front desk
  • A Muzak version of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow is used when Larry is standing in the elevator, while escaping from Attila the Hun.
  • "Ezekiel Saw Them Dry Bones" is the tune Larry whistles as he passes the empty T. Rex exhibit on his first night.
  • "Camptown Races" by Stephen Foster is sung by the townspeople of the American West miniature diorama. This is a period-correct song.

Score

Reception

Night at the Museum was the highest grossing film in its opening weekend, grossing $30.8 million in 3,685 theaters. For the four-day Christmas holiday weekend, it took in $42.2 million.[6] The movie was also released in IMAX large screen format, often on site at museums of science or natural history such as the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

In its second weekend, Night at the Museum expanded into eighty-three more theaters and took in approximately $37.8 million at the box-office, out-grossing its opening weekend. It maintained its #1 position in its third week, with an additional $24 million. In total, as of Monday, April 30th, 2007, the film had grossed $571,069,550, breaking the $250,000,000 million mark with $250,224,440 in U.S. ticket sales, and $320,845,110 in foreign box offices.[7]

It was strongly supported by family audiences and their children, resulting in a 65% user rating, meaning "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.9/10 user rating at Metacritic indicating generally favorable reviews, however the film received mixed reviews from movie critics, receiving a 44% rating from noted critics and a 41% Cream Of The Crop rating, both meaning "rotten" at Rotten Tomatoes and a 48/100 rating on Metacritic indicating mixed or average reviews.[8] James Berardinelli of Reelviews commented on Stiller's performance by stating "It might be fair to give Ben Stiller an 'A' for effort, but to call what he does in this movie "acting" is a misnomer. He does a lot of running around, occasionally falling down or bumping into things."[9] One positive review by William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer stated that the film was "Out to impress and delight a family audience with the pageantry of human and natural history, and that's a surprisingly worthy ambition for a Hollywood comedy."[10]

In a case of life imitating art, museum officials at the New York American Museum of Natural History have credited the film for increasing the number of visitors during the holiday season by almost 20%. According to a museum official, between December 22, 2006, and January 2, 2007, there were 50,000 more visitors than during the same period the prior year.[11]

DVD release

The film was released on a 2-Disc DVD edition in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2007. It was released on 1-Disc and 2-Disc DVD editions and Blu-ray Disc format on April 24, 2007 elsewhere.

The film was the first non-Disney film to have a DVD review at the Ultimate Disney website. [12][13]

Sequel

Writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon have confirmed to Dark Horizons that they are writing a sequel to their hit Fox film, which was earlier tentatively titled Another Night at the Museum. The writers, who created Reno 911!, said that "there'll be existing characters and plenty of new ones."

20th Century Fox announced that the sequel, now titled "Night at the Museum 2: Escape from the Smithsonian", will come out on Memorial Day Weekend on May 22, 2009. Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Dick Van Dyke will return for the sequel, with Shawn Levy back in the director's chair, and it will be the first major Hollywood feature to be filmed at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.. Due to the nature of the complex, more historical figures are expected to be involved, including Amelia Earhart, who will be portrayed by Academy Award nominee Amy Adams. A new villanious Pharaoh will be played by Hank Azaria who confirmed the return of Owen Wilson, Ricky Gervais and Steve Coogan.

The company had been looking for a Winter 2008 release, but due to the writer's strike of 2007, it was delayed to Summer 2009.[citation needed]

20th Century Fox recently released the official details and synopsis for the film: "The centerpiece of the film will be bringing to life the Smithsonian Institution, which houses the world's largest museum complex with more than 136 million items in its collections, ranging from the plane Amelia Earhart flew on her nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic and Al Capone's rap sheet and mug shot to Dorothy's ruby red slippers and Archie Bunker's lounge chair.

Trivia

Footnotes

  1. ^ Box Office Mojo: Night at the Museum
  2. ^ Night at the Museum 2 Coming
  3. ^ "MovieLocationsGuide.com". Night at the Museum Filming Locations. Retrieved January 8. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Playfuls.com". Real And Digital Animals Star In New Films. Retrieved December 18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b "Sun2Surf.com". Stiller shifts to the Museum. Retrieved January 8. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "BoxOfficeMojo.com". NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM. Retrieved December 24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Box Office Mojo - Movie Index, A-Z
  8. ^ "RottenTomatoes.com". Night at the Museum (2006). Retrieved January 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Reelviews.com". Night at the Museum. Retrieved January 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "SeattlePI.com". Shallow 'Museum' exhibits some appealing qualities. Retrieved January 7. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "msnbc.com". Movie boosts Natural History Museum visits. Retrieved September 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "UltimateDisney.com". Non-Disney films to have DVD reviews at UltimateDisney.com. Retrieved April 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "UltimateDisney.com". "Night at the Museum" at UltimateDisney.com. Retrieved April 24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

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