Story of movie Night At The Museum :
Night at the Museum is a 2006 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, based on the 1993 children's book of the same name by Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc. The film stars Ben Stiller as Larry Daley, a divorced father who 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.
| Night at the Museum | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shawn Levy |
| Produced by |
|
| Screenplay by |
|
| Based on | The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Guillermo Navarro |
| Edited by | Don Zimmerman |
Production company |
|
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $110 million |
| Box office | $574.5 million |
It was released on December 22, 2006 by 20th Century Fox. The first installment in the Night at the Museum trilogy, the film was a box office success despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, grossing over $574 million.
Screenplay
Larry Daley is a divorced man from Brooklyn, hoping to find a good job to impress his ten-year-old son Nick, but his ex-wife Erica believes he is a bad example for their son. Larry is hired at the American Museum of Natural History to replace the retiring security guards Cecil Fredericks, Gus, and Reginald. Larry meets the museum's neurotic curator Dr. McPhee, and very attractive museum docent Rebecca Hutman, who plans to write a dissertation on Sacagawea. On his first night, Cecil hands Larry an instruction manual on what to do in the museum, warning him not to let anything "in or out."
Larry soon discovers that at night, the museum's exhibits come to life and cause havoc for him. Amongst the lively exhibits are a playful Tyrannosaurus skeleton named Rexy; a mischievous capuchin monkey named Dexter who destroys the instructions; the warring miniature factions of cowboys and legionnaires led by Jedediah and General Octavius; violent Attila the Hun and his army; a talking Easter Island Head that desires gum who calls Larry "dum dum"; the fire-seeking neanderthals; and a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt, who is in love with Sacagawea.
Roosevelt explains to Larry that the exhibits have come to life every night since the arrival of an Egyptian artifact, the Tablet of Akhmenrah, the mummified pharaoh trapped in his sarcophagus. He also explains to Larry that as night guard, it is his job to make sure that no exhibit sets foot out of the museum, otherwise they will disintegrate into dust if the sun rises while they are outside. The next day, Cecil advises Larry to research history to make up for the instructions' destruction. He studies in libraries and from Rebecca. Larry puts his new knowledge to good use on his second night, but some of his plans backfire and the neanderthals set their exhibit on fire, leading to one becoming dust after venturing outside. After having doubts and almost getting fired the next day, Larry offers to introduce Sacagawea to Rebecca, but she thinks he is mocking her.
On his third night, Larry brings Nick to the museum to watch the exhibits come to life, but they strangely do not. They catch Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing artifacts, who explain the tablet's magic has allowed them to feel physically young in their old age, and plot to frame Larry for the theft while they enjoy a happy retirement. Nick activates the tablet, but Cecil steals it, locking Larry and Nick in the Egyptian exhibit. They free Akhmenrah, and rally the exhibits to stop the thieves and retrieve their colleagues who fled out into Central Park. Gus and Reginald are captured, but Cecil escapes by stagecoach.
Larry and several exhibits give chase, where they stop Cecil and recover the tablet, using its magic to escort all of the exhibits back into the museum before sunrise. Rebecca witnesses this and makes amends with Larry and is subsequently introduced to Sacagawea. The next day, McPhee fires Larry after watching news reports of sightings of the exhibits last night, but once they start to leave the museum, they find out that the reports have caused an increased number of visitors, and Larry is immediately rehired. Near the end of the film, Larry, Nick, and the exhibits throw a party in the museum. During the credits, it is shown that Cecil, Gus, and Reginald have been forced to serve as museum janitors for their crimes.
Humans
- Ben Stiller as Larry Daley, a night-shift security guard at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
- Dick Van Dyke as Cecil Fredericks, a veteran security guard
- Carla Gugino as Rebecca Hutman, a museum docent
- Mickey Rooney as Gus, a veteran security guard
- Bill Cobbs as Reginald, a veteran security guard
- Jake Cherry as Nick Daley, Larry's son
- Ricky Gervais as Dr. McPhee, the curator of the Museum of Natural History and Larry's boss
- Kim Raver as Erica Daley, Larry's former wife
- Charlie Murphy as the taxi-driver
- Paul Rudd as Don, Erica's fiancé
- Anne Meara as Debbie
Exhibits
- Robin Williams as a wax model of Theodore Roosevelt
- Patrick Gallagher as a wax model of Attila the Hun
- Rami Malek as the mummy of Pharaoh Ahkmenrah
- Pierfrancesco Favino as a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus
- Owen Wilson (uncredited) as Jedediah, a miniature cowboy figure
- Steve Coogan as Octavius, a miniature Roman general figure
- Mizuo Peck as a polyurethane model of Sacagawea
- Kerry van der Griend, Dan Rizzuto, Matthew Harrison, and Jody Racicot as wax models of neanderthals
- Martin Christopher as a wax model of Meriwether Lewis
- Martin Sims as a wax model of William Clark
- Randy Lee, Darryl Quon, Gerald Wong, and Paul Chih-Ping Cheng as wax models of the Huns
- Brad Garrett as the voice of the Easter Island Head
- Crystal the Monkey as Dexter, a stuffed capuchin monkey
The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a sound stage in Burnaby, British Columbia, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.
Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal, who plays the troublemaking monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Stiller in the film.
Robin Williams' Theodore Roosevelt costume closely resembles that of John Wayne's character in The Shootist.
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 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."
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. It can be heard on the American DVD on the Spanish dub.
- "September" - performed by Earth, Wind and 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 telephone at the front desk beatboxing the music.
- An instrumental 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
Alan Silvestri replaced John Ottman as score composer. Silvestri's score was used for the teaser trailer of Horton Hears a Who!
| Night at the Museum (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
|---|---|
| Film score by Alan Silvestri | |
| Released | December 19, 2006 |
| Recorded | 2006 |
| Genre | Film score |
| Length | 53:19 |
| Label | Varèse Sarabande |
Track list
Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack album of the score on December 19, 2006.
All tracks written by Alan Silvestri.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
