Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Darth Vader and Oscar the Grouch

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is a 2009 sequel to Night at the Museum (2006) starring Ben Stiller. The story follows a security guard at a museum where the exhibits come to life at night.

One such exhibit is Oscar the Grouch (played as usual by Caroll Spinney), a puppet on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Other characters featured in the film include Darth Vader, Albert Einstein bobbleheads, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Earlier in the film, an image of Cookie Monster is shown on a computer screen that displays various exhibits in the museum Nicky was looking up.

Oscar and Vader are found by the main villain's minions in the pop culture exhibit. They each intend on joining the team of bad guys in taking over the world. Both of them fail, however, as Kahmunrah finds Vader's theatrics comical and Oscar can't seem to prove himself to be evil, just "vaguely grouchy."

“"That was something that Tom [Lennon] and Ben [Garand] wrote in the very first draft of the script," Levy said in a news conference at the Smithsonian last weekend in Washington. "Honestly, I read it, and I was like, 'This is awesome, but there is no possible way you are going to get Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader in our movie.' I thought it was a complete fantasy. I still can't believe it."
—Director, Shawn Levy”

References

• In a deleted scene from The Muppets, Ricky Gervais tells someone on the phone that he's receiving an Oscar. Although he doesn't know what it's for, he says "I wouldn't have thought it would be for Night at the Museum. They don't usually hand out Oscars for two-minute cameos in kids films that you're only doing as a favor." (Gervais then looks sarcastically at the camera, breaking the fourth wall).

Connections

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian:

• Ben Stiller played Larry Daley
• Amy Adams played Amelia Earhart
• Hank Azaria played Kahmunrah, and the voices of The Thinker and Abraham Lincoln
• Brad Garrett played the voice of the Easter Island Head
• Ricky Gervais played Dr. McPhee
• Bill Hader played George Armstrong Custer
• Jonah Hill played Brandon
• Mindy Kaling played Docent
• Rami Malek played Ahkmenrah
• Dan Payne provided stunts
• Craig Robinson played Tuskegee Airman
• Robin Williams played Theodore Roosevelt
• Jonas Brothers played the voice of the Cherubs

Other Night at the Museum projects:

• Dee Bradley Baker played Dexter in the sequel Kahmunrah Rises Again
• Bill Cobbs played Reginald in the original film and the sequel Secret of the Tomb
• Matt Danner directed the sequel Kahmunrah Rises Again
• Hugh Jackman played himself in the sequel Secret of the Tomb
• Ben Kingsley played Merenkahre in the sequel Secret of the Tomb
• Zachary Levi played Larry Daley in the sequel Kahmunrah Rises Again
• Andrea Martin played Rose in the sequel Secret of the Tomb
• Anne Meara played Debbie in the original film
• Kim Raver played Erica Daley in the original film
• Mickey Rooney played Gus in the original film and the sequel Secret of the Tomb
• Paul Rudd played Don in the original film
• Dick Van Dyke played Cecil Fredericks in the original film and the sequel Secret of the Tomb
• Jack Whitehall played Octavius in the sequel Kahmunrah Rises Again