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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

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Night at the Museum:
Battle of the Smithsonian
Promotional poster
Directed byShawn Levy
Screenplay byThomas Lennon
Story byRobert Ben Garant
Produced byShawn Levy
Chris Columbus
Michael Barnathan
StarringBen Stiller
Amy Adams
Owen Wilson
Hank Azaria
Christopher Guest
Alain Chabat
Robin Williams
CinematographyJohn Schwartzman
Edited byDon Zimmerman
Dean Zimmerman
Music byAlan Silvestri
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • May 22, 2009 (2009-05-22)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$150 million[1]
Box office$413,106,170[1]

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)(Also known as Night at the Museum 2)is an American adventure comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, and Robin Williams. The film is a sequel to Night at the Museum. It was released on May 22, 2009, and received mixed reviews.

Plot

Two years after the events of the previous film, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is now CEO of Daley Devices, a direct response television company that sells inventions inspired by his experiences as a night security guard at the American Museum of Natural History. While wealthy and successful he has not had the time to see his museum exhibit friends in several months.

When Larry returns to the museum he learns that it is closed for renovations and upgrades. Interactive holograms will replace many of the exhibits, which are moving to the Federal Archives at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. While Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), Rexy the Tyrannosaurus skeleton, the Easter Island moai (Brad Garrett), and Akhmenrah will remain at the museum, Jedediah (Owen Wilson), Dexter the Capuchin Monkey, and others will no longer come to life since the Golden Tablet of Akhmenrah that animated the exhibits each night will also remain.

After the exhibits leave Larry receives a call from Jedediah. Dexter stole Akhmenrah's tablet and brought it to the Federal Archives, and the evil Pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria), Akhmenrah's older brother, is attacking Jedediah and the other exhibits. Larry travels to Washington and visits the National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution Building, searching for the Federal Archives with the help of his son Nick (Jake Cherry).

Larry locates the exhibits, frozen in their shipping container in the middle of a battle with Kahmunrah and his troops. As Larry obtains the tablet the sun sets and the exhibits, and others at the Smithsonian, come alive. Kahmunrah tells Larry that bringing exhibits to life is just one of the tablet's powers, and that he intends to use it to conquer the world by raising an army from the underworld.

Larry escapes from the Egyptian troops with the help of General George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader). He meets the beautiful and adventurous Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams), who is attracted to Larry and accompanies him through the National Gallery. Larry and Amelia trap Kahmunrah's soldiers in a photograph of V–J day in Times Square, but Napoleon Bonaparte (Alain Chabat) captures them. Napoleon takes Larry to Kahmunrah—who has also allied with historical leaders Ivan the Terrible (Christopher Guest) and Al Capone (Jon Bernthal), and has rejected fellow villains Darth Vader and Oscar the Grouch—and Jedediah is captured trying to rescue Larry.

Amelia Earhart's plane, as seen in the film.

Kahmunrah attempts to open the Gate of the Underworld by pressing the symbols on the tablet, which resembles numbers on a keypad, but the combination has changed. The pharaoh forces Larry to obtain the new combination before sunrise by trapping Jedediah in a filling hourglass. Larry and Amelia flee from Russian troops and visit the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial. At the National Air and Space Museum, they consult a group of Albert Einstein bobbleheads who tell them that the new combination is the value of pi (3.14159265). When they are found by Napoleon, Ivan, and Capone, Larry and Amelia escape in the Wright Flyer and return to the Smithsonian Institution Building. The two separate, with Amelia searching for help while Larry delays Kahmunrah.

Napoleon, Ivan, and Capone obtain the combination from one of the bobbleheads. Kahmunrah opens the Gate of the Underworld and summons an army of Horus warriors. The Lincoln statue suddenly arrives, forcing the warriors to retreat to the underworld, and Amelia frees the New York exhibits from their container and recruits other Smithsonian exhibits. As the exhibits battle Larry banishes Kahmunrah to the underworld. Amelia flies Larry and the New York exhibits back to the Natural History Museum. Knowing that she will turn to dust at sunrise if she does not return to the Smithsonian, Amelia kisses Larry and leaves.

Larry sells his company and donates money to the museum to restore the exhibits. Roosevelt and Akhmenrah as tour guides, Attila as a storyteller, and other exhibits come to life in public as "animatronics" at the museum, which now stays open after sunset. Larry is rehired as the night guard, and meets a young woman who looks like Amelia.

Cast

Owen Wilson, Amy Adams and Ben Stiller at a panel for the film in May 2009.

Production

Writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon confirmed to Dark Horizons that they were writing a sequel to Night at the Museum, originally with the tentative title Another Night at the Museum. The writers said that "there'll be existing characters and plenty of new ones."

20th Century Fox announced that the sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, would be released during Memorial Day weekend in 2009. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Patrick Gallagher, Jake Cherry, Rami Malek, Mizuo Peck, Brad Garrett and Robin Williams would return for the sequel, with Shawn Levy returning as director.

The film was mostly filmed in Vancouver with some scene filmed in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C..[2] A scene was shot at the Lincoln Memorial on the night of May 21, 2008. Scenes were also shot at the American Museum of Natural History in New York on the 18 and 20 of August 2008.

The trailer was released with Bedtime Stories, Yes Man and Marley & Me in December 2008. The trailer accompanied the film Bride Wars in January, The Pink Panther 2 in February, and Dragonball Evolution in April 2009. The film was also promoted as an opening skit on American Idol, where a replica of the Idol judge seats are being held at the real Smithsonian Institution.

An alternate ending included on the DVD and Blu-ray releases featured the return of the main antagonists of the first film, Dick Van Dyke (Cecil Fredericks), Bill Cobbs (Reginald), and Mickey Rooney (Gus).

Night at the Museum label on the Wright Flyer exhibit in the National Air and Space Museum.

Filmmakers loaned the Smithsonian Institution props used in the movie which were displayed in the Smithsonian Castle including the pile of artifacts featured in the film.[3] The Smithsonian also made a brochure available online and at museum visitor service desks outlining where to find artifacts.[4]

As of 2009, numerous artifacts which inspired the movie were on display at Smithsonian Museums along the National Mall. Many of the artifacts are labeled with "Night at the Museum" logos.[4]

  1. Able the space monkey
  2. Lunar rover
  3. Lunar Module
  4. 1903 Wright Flyer
  5. Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega
  6. Medal belonging to Tuskegee Airmen
  7. Supermarine Spitfire
  8. F-104 Starfighter
  1. Messerschmitt 262
  1. Gigantic octopus
  2. Moai
  3. Tyrannosaurus
  1. Oscar the Grouch puppet
  2. George Armstrong Custer's fringed jacket
  3. Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves
  4. Theodore Roosevelt's chaps
  5. Archie Bunker's chair from the television sitcom All in the Family
  6. Theodore Roosevelt's teddy bear
  7. Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz

Gift shops at the Smithsonian also sell a replica of the Einstein Bobble-head, created specifically as a tie-in to the movie.

Reception

Critical reaction

Like its predecessor, the sequel has received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 44% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 154 reviews, with an average score of 5.2 out of 10.[5] Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Cream of the Crop," which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 33% based on 27 reviews.[6] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 42% based on 27 reviews.[7]

Despite mixed reviews from critics, most critics praised Amy Adams' and Hank Azaria's performances. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune awarded the film 3 stars stating that "...she's terrific -- a sparkling screen presence."[8] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+ stating "Battle of the Smithsonian has plenty of life. But it's Adams who gives it zing."[9] Perry Seibert of TV Guide gave the film 2 stars despite honoring that "thanks to Azaria, a master of comic timing. His grandiose, yet slightly fey bad guy is equally funny when he's chewing out minions as he is when deliberating if Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader are evil enough to join his team.[10] Michael Rechtshaffen of the Hollywood Reporter and A.O. Scott of The New York Times enjoyed both performances.[11][12]

One critic panned the movie on its excessive use of special effects as noted by Scott Tobias of the A.V. Club when he described the film as "a baffling master plot and a crowded pileup of special effects in search of something to do."[13] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times awarded the film 1½ stars out of 4 claiming "its premise is lame, its plot relentlessly predictable, its characters with personalities that would distinguish picture books." [14]

Box office

On Friday, May 22, 2009, its opening day, the film's estimated gross was $15,568,708, coming in ahead of Terminator Salvation (which released on Thursday) in 4,096 theaters at #1, reaching up to $54.1 million over the Memorial Day weekend.[15] By comparison, Night at the Museum reached up to $30 million on its opening weekend in December 2006. The domestic revenue as of October 1, 2009, is $177.1 million along with $236.0 million from foreign countries with a total of $411,755,284 worldwide.[16][17]

Awards

Year Award Category Recipient Result
2009 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Comedy Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Won[18]
2010 MTV Movie Award Best Comedic Performance Ben Stiller Nominated

Home media

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was made available December 1, 2009 on DVD and Blu-ray as a two-disc Special Edition and a three-disc Digital Copy Edition.[19]

Video game

Main article: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (video game)

The video game based on the film was released on May 5, 2009. It was fairly well-received in comparison to the majority of film-based video-games, netting a 7.5 out of 10 from IGN.com.

Deleted scenes

  • Brunden — A longer version of when Larry is looking at Kahmunrah's gate at the Castle
  • Meet And Greet — A longer version of when Kahmunrah met Ivan The Terrible, Napoleon, and Al Capone
  • World Twister — This two-part scene involves Kahmunrah having Napoleon and Ivan play Twister on a map of the world, followed by Al Capone finding his mugshot while looking at a newspaper in his exhibit. He demands what punk would get arrested for tax evasion, and is immediately called punk by his mugshot.
  • How many bad guys can you fit in an elevator — This scene shows Al, Napoleon, Ivan, and their henchmen in an elevator.
  • Moon Rover — Amelia tells Larry that he lost the fun in his life.
  • Takin' Em Down Gangster Style — Al takes his gun and pretends to shoot in slow-mo. Then he explains that each is a bullet when he makes the sound.
  • Alternate Ending — The former night guards from the previous film ask Akhmenrah about the tablet.
  • Ivan integrates Larry-Ivan integrates Larry about the combination.

Sequel

Ben Stiller admitted that a sequel is "a possibility" and on January 22, 2010, co-writer Thomas Lennon said to Access Hollywood, "That after the success of two Night At The Museum films, its no surprise that 20th Century Fox is looking to develop a third and that those suspicions are indeed true and how could you not? I think it's a really outstanding idea to do 'Night at the Museum 3,' in fact," he said. "I wonder if someone's not even already working on a script for that," he added with a raised eyebrow. "I cannot confirm that for a fact, but I cannot deny it for a fact either... It might be in the works."[20] According to the writer's commentary on DVD, one of the ideas involves Larry and McPhee going to Atlanta with the mammoth statue, only to find it coming to life after the trip ends. The rest of the plot is centered on them trying to hide it as an elephant. However, the commentary is viewed by most to be a joke, and that if 'Night at the Museum 3' were to come out, it would most likely have a much different plot.

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nightatthemuseum2.htm
  2. ^ http://siarchives.si.edu/exhibits/SIintheMovies/index.htm
  3. ^ Puente, Maria (2009-05-25). "Smithsonian gets top billing in the new 'Night at the Museum'". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  4. ^ a b "See the Artifacts That Inspired the Movie". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
  5. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  6. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Movie Reviews, Pictures - Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  7. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  8. ^ "Toys in the nation's attic - Amy Adams a treasure in the 'Museum' sequel". Chicago Tribune. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  9. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian". Entertainment Weekly. 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  10. ^ "Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian: Review". TV Guide. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  11. ^ "Film Review: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian". Hollywood Reporter. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2009-05-22. [dead link‍]
  12. ^ Scott, A. O. (2009-05-22). "Movie Review: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) - Dad's at Another Museum. Does That Make Him an Exhibitionist?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  13. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Review - A.V. Club". A.V. Club. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  14. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Review". Chicago Sun-Times. 2009-05-20. Retrieved 2009-05-22. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |first name= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |last name= ignored (help)
  15. ^ "Daily Box Office". Box Office Mojo. May 22, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  16. ^ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian". Box Office Mojo. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2009.
  17. ^ Frank Segers (2009-06-21). "New 'Transformers' bows No. 1 overseas". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2009-06-22. [dead link‍]
  18. ^ Teen Choice Awards winners
  19. ^ Amazon.com: DVD Release for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
  20. ^ http://www.accesshollywood.com/night-at-the-museum-3-in-the-works_article_28049
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