Disney inherited a lot of projects from their buyout of 20th Century Fox that sit neatly alongside their own family-friendly fare, and now one such franchise is finally making its way to Disney Plus. The first two Night of the Museum movies are due to debut on the streaming service next month, with 2006’s Night at the Museum and 2009’s sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian becoming available to view from Friday, April 2nd.
The first pic stars Ben Stiller as a night shift security guard at New York’s American Museum of Natural History who discovers that the exhibits come to life after hours, including the wax models of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), an Egyptian pharaoh (Rami Malek) and a miniature cowboy (Owen Wilson). Ricky Gervais, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney likewise star as the rest of the museum’s staff.
The sequel – also directed by Stranger Things‘ Shawn Levy – sees pretty much everyone return, as Stiller’s Larry Daley and the exhibits are shipped off to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. Amy Adams joins the cast this time around as Amelia Earhart, alongside Hank Azaria and Jonah Hill. The 2014 threequel, Secret of the Tomb, which moved the action to London’s British Museum, concluded the trilogy, but unfortunately, that’s yet to appear on Disney Plus.
When put together, these three movies earned over $1.35 billion at the box office, so it’s no surprise that Disney is already working on a reboot of the family fantasy franchise. This time around, though, an animated film is being developed to go up exclusively on streaming.
It’s unknown yet which of the original cast will return, but what we can say is that this will be the first entry in the series not to feature Robin Williams, who tragically died in 2014. His turn as Roosevelt was one of his most popular performances in the later years of his career and you can now relive it when the Night at the Museum movies (well, the first two anyways) hit Disney Plus next month.