Trailer
Plot summary
Larry Daley, an aspiring inventor in New York, bounces between jobs and apartments while his ex-wife Erica doubts he sets a good example for their ten-year-old son Nick. Larry is hired as the Museum of Natural History's single night watchman, replacing three retiring guards, and Cecil Fredericks hands him a manual with a warning about letting anything in or out. On his first shift the Tyrannosaurus skeleton vanishes and the living dinosaur chases him until he throws it a bone. After sunset every exhibit wakes, among them the monkey Dexter, feuding miniature civilizations, Attila the Hun, Sacagawea and Theodore Roosevelt, who explains that Pharaoh Ahkmenrah's Golden Tablet, at the museum since 1952, brings them to life each night.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Night at the Museum (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The real American Museum of Natural History credited the film with boosting its holiday attendance by almost 20 percent, drawing 50,000 more visitors than the same period the year before.
- Trainers spent several weeks teaching Crystal, who plays the troublemaking monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Ben Stiller on cue for the film.
- The role of the mummy Ahkmenrah, the pharaoh who becomes fully human at night, marked actor Rami Malek's film debut.
- Director Stephen Sommers was originally attached to the film before dropping out over creative differences and to work instead on a proposed remake of When Worlds Collide, clearing the way for Shawn Levy.
- Composer Alan Silvestri replaced John Ottman on the score, and his music from this film was later reused for the teaser trailer of Horton Hears a Who!.
- Director Shawn Levy said the film's large ensemble cast came together largely because of Ben Stiller's draw, saying actors want to work with him once they hear he is attached to a project.
