50 Fun Facts About Night at the Museum

Who plays night guard Larry Daley?

In the third film he also plays Laaa, a Neanderthal model made to look like him.

Who directed the three live-action Night at the Museum films?

The first two were written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Reno 911! fame.

The first film is based on a 1993 children's book by which author?

The book is a slim picture book; the films added almost everything else.

Which real New York institution is the setting of the first film?

Exteriors were shot in New York, but the interior was a soundstage build in Burnaby, British Columbia.

What causes the exhibits to come to life each night?

Teddy Roosevelt explains it arrived in 1952 and anything still outside at sunrise turns to dust.

What does Larry name the Tyrannosaurus skeleton after taming it with a bone?

Its dinosaur tracks in Central Park later make the news.

Dexter, the mischievous monkey who keeps stealing Larry's keys, is what kind of monkey?

In the second film he steals the tablet itself and sets the whole Smithsonian loose.

What does the Easter Island head call Larry?

What he wants from Larry is chewing gum.

Who plays the wax Theodore Roosevelt who mentors Larry?

Secret of the Tomb marked his final screen performance and is dedicated to his memory.

Teddy Roosevelt is secretly in love with which exhibit?

He is sliced in half protecting her from a stagecoach but survives, being made of wax.

Which two feuding miniature leaders become Larry's allies?

One is a cowboy from the American Frontier diorama, the other a Roman general.

Which actor voices and plays the miniature cowboy Jedediah, uncredited in the first film?

Steve Coogan plays his Roman rival Octavius.

Which three veteran night guards turn out to be stealing the tablet to fund their retirement?

They are played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs, and end up as janitors.

Which actor plays the veteran guard who hires Larry and warns him to 'not let anything in... or out'?

Cecil warns Larry to 'not let anything in... or out'.

Which comedian plays Dr. McPhee, the museum director and Larry's boss?

In the third film McPhee is fired after the planetarium disaster and thinks the magic is special effects.

The first film was the film debut of which future Oscar winner, playing the pharaoh Ahkmenrah?

He went on to win Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody twelve years later.

Larry can never remember the name of which bronze statue, because it has no label?

Pierfrancesco Favino plays the exasperated explorer.

Who plays Rebecca Hutman, the museum docent writing a dissertation on the Shoshone guide?

She thinks Larry is mocking her until she sees the exhibits returning at dawn.

Which actor plays Don, the fiancé of Larry's ex-wife Erica?

Don works in finance and gets the Career Day invitation that Larry so badly wants.

What did the first film gross worldwide, making it the fifth-biggest film of 2006?

Reviews were mixed, with a 42% Rotten Tomatoes score, but audiences did not care.

Who composed the score for the films?

He replaced John Ottman on the first film and returned for the whole trilogy.

In Battle of the Smithsonian, why are the exhibits shipped off to Washington?

Larry has left to sell his inventions on TV and only learns of the move on a visit.

Who is the villain of Battle of the Smithsonian?

He wants to use the tablet to open the Gate of the Underworld and conquer the world.

Which actor plays Kahmunrah, and also voices The Thinker and the Lincoln Memorial statue?

Kahmunrah wears a tunic that Larry keeps calling a dress.

Which aviator, played by Amy Adams, becomes Larry's love interest in the second film?

Adams also plays Tess, a look-alike visitor Larry meets at the end.

Which three historical villains does Kahmunrah recruit as henchmen?

Christopher Guest, Alain Chabat and Jon Bernthal play them; Capone is a black-and-white photo standee.

In the second film, what is the tablet's combination, per a group of Einstein bobbleheads?

Kahmunrah gives Larry an hour to work it out with Jedediah trapped in an hourglass.

Which SNL star plays General George Custer in Battle of the Smithsonian?

Larry has to help him overcome his fear of repeating Little Big Horn.

Larry and Amelia escape from Kahmunrah's henchmen in which historic aircraft?

They crash it straight back into the Smithsonian.

What did Battle of the Smithsonian gross against its $150M budget?

Enough to green-light a third film five years later.

Secret of the Tomb opens at a 1938 Egyptian dig. Which character, as a boy, finds the tablet there?

Locals warn that if the tablet leaves the tomb, 'the end will come'.

In Secret of the Tomb, Larry travels to which London institution to save the tablet's magic?

Ahkmenrah's parents Merenkahre and Shepseheret are exhibited there.

What is the name of the new Neanderthal model who thinks Larry is his father?

Ben Stiller plays him too, in heavy makeup.

Which Downton Abbey actor plays the wax Sir Lancelot in Secret of the Tomb?

Lancelot steals the tablet, mistaking it for the Holy Grail.

Lancelot crashes a West End performance of Camelot starring which real actor as himself?

Seeing the musical is how Lancelot realises he and Camelot were never real.

Who plays Tilly, the London night guard who locks Larry and Laaa in the break room?

Three years later she brings a travelling exhibit to New York and hands McPhee the tablet.

In Secret of the Tomb, what restores the tablet's fading power?

The tablet draws its magic from the moon god Khonsu.

Which two veteran actors gave their final screen performances in Secret of the Tomb?

Both died in 2014, the year the film was released.

Who plays Merenkahre, Ahkmenrah's father, in Secret of the Tomb?

Filming took place in London and British Columbia from January to May 2014.

The 2022 animated film Kahmunrah Rises Again was released on which streaming service?

Zachary Levi voices Larry, and Nick takes over as night guard.

In Kahmunrah Rises Again, who voices Nick Daley, the new night guard?

Larry, meanwhile, is off guarding a history museum in Japan for the summer.

Which comedy-writing duo wrote the first two Night at the Museum films?

The Reno 911! creators wrote the 2006 original and Battle of the Smithsonian; Guion and Handelman took over for Secret of the Tomb.

Which actor plays the miniature Roman general Octavius?

His feuding partner, cowboy Jedediah, is played by an uncredited Owen Wilson.

Which Everybody Loves Raymond actor voices the Easter Island Head in the first film?

The chewing-gum-loving Moai is the one who calls Larry 'Dum-Dum'.

Roughly how many DVDs had the first Night at the Museum sold by December 2009?

The 9,191,694 discs grossed about $153.6 million in DVD sales alone, on top of its $574.5 million theatrical take.

Which pop act plays the singing Cherubs in Battle of the Smithsonian?

The sequel's cameos also include George Foreman as himself and Jonah Hill as a Smithsonian security guard named Brandon.

Which Sesame Street character does Kahmunrah reject as an ally for being 'vaguely grouchy'?

Darth Vader is also turned away, dismissed as 'evil, asthmatic' and 'a robot'.

Apart from Washington, in which two cities was Battle of the Smithsonian mostly filmed?

A scene was also shot at the Lincoln Memorial on the night of May 21, 2008.

Who replaced Jake Cherry as Larry's now-teenage son Nick in Secret of the Tomb?

The recasting was announced in November 2013, a week after Dan Stevens was cast as Lancelot.

Which film topped the North American box office on Secret of the Tomb's opening weekend?

Its $17.1 million opening was well below the first film's $30.4 million and the sequel's $54.1 million.