Poster © 20th Century Fox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAdventure, Comedy & Family
RatedPG
Runtime1 hr 45 mins
ReleasedMay 22, 2009
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorShawn Levy
StarringBen Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson
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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
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| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian's Details | |
| Genre | Adventure, Comedy & Family |
| Rated | PG |
| Released | 05/22/2009 |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Budget | $150M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Characters by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian's Interests | |
| General | Glow-in-the-dark flashlights, tiny cowboys, wax figures, the Air and Space Museum, golden tablets. |
| Music | Alan Silvestri, with a big, bouncy adventure score. |
| Movies | Night at the Museum (2006). Larry's very first night shift. |
| Television | Liberty's Kids. History comes alive, no magic tablet needed. |
| Heroes | Amelia Earhart. All gas, no brakes, great jacket. |
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian's Crew | |
| Director | Shawn Levy |
| Writers | Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon |
| Producers | Shawn Levy, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan |
| Cinematography | John Schwartzman |
| Music | Alan Silvestri |
| Edited By | Don Zimmerman, Dean Zimmerman |
| Production | 20th Century Fox, Dune Entertainment, 1492 Pictures, 21 Laps Entertainment |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
Napoleon, Ivan the Terrible, Al Capone and a cranky pharaoh team up as villains in this sequel, and somehow they’re the least cluttered part of it. Battle of the Smithsonian moves the party to Washington and spends most of its 105 minutes on a scavenger hunt for a magic tablet, introducing new exhibits and dropping them like gift shop magnets. Most of the old gang gets sidelined, and a lot of the heart goes with them. Hank Azaria is the reason to watch. His Kahmunrah is a pharaoh with the energy of an offended theater kid, and every tantrum lands. Amy Adams is a delight as Amelia Earhart, all fast talk and adventure. Robin Williams pops in with some warm Teddy Roosevelt wisdom, and a giant Lincoln statue gets a great entrance. It made $413.1 million worldwide on a reported $150M. A 4.1 because a few great performers can’t fill a museum this big. $4,833 says you buy a bobblehead at the next gift shop and ask it a math question.
What works: Hank Azaria’s petulant pharaoh and Amy Adams’s fast-talking Amelia Earhart give the sequel real comic energy.
What doesn’t: The plot is a scattered scavenger hunt, and most of the beloved exhibits from the first film get pushed to the sidelines.
Who it’s for: Families looking for a harmless, colorful movie night with a few laughs for the grown-ups too.
Spoilers
The Lincoln statue scares off the villain army, and Larry sends Kahmunrah back through the gate to the underworld. Amelia flies off at dawn, and Larry returns to his old museum, which now stays open at night with the exhibits passing as high-tech robots.
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) traded his night-guard job for a business selling his own gadgets on TV. When he swings by his old museum, he finds most of his friends being boxed up and shipped to the Smithsonian's archives in Washington, D.C. Then tiny cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) calls in a panic: the exhibits are awake down there, and an ancient pharaoh named Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) is making big trouble. Larry heads south, sneaks into the archives and teams up with a thrill-seeking Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams). Shawn Levy directs. One hundred five minutes, mind the monkey.
Anyone with a Smithsonian membership and a good flashlight. Stay after closing.
| Ben Stiller | Larry Daley |
| Amy Adams | Amelia Earhart |
| Hank Azaria | Kahmunrah |
| Robin Williams | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Owen Wilson | Jedediah |
| Steve Coogan | Octavius |
| Christopher Guest | Ivan the Terrible |
| Alain Chabat | Napoleon Bonaparte |
| Jon Bernthal | Al Capone |
| Bill Hader | George Armstrong Custer |
| Mizuo Peck | Sacagawea |
| Rami Malek | Ahkmenrah |
| Patrick Gallagher | Attila the Hun |
| Brad Garrett | the voice of the Museum of Natural History's Easter Island H |
| Kerry van der Griend, Matthew Harrison | wax models of Neanderthals |
| Rick Dobran | wax models of Neanderthals |
| Ricky Gervais | Dr. Leslie McPhee |
| Jake Cherry | Nick Daley |
| George Foreman | himself |
| Shawn Levy | an actor portraying a father in a Daley Devices infomercial |
| Mindy Kaling | a docent at the National Air and Space Museum |
| Ed Helms | Larry's best friend and assistant |
| Jonah Hill | Brandon |
| Randy Lee, Darryl Quon, Gerald Wong | Atilla's fellow Huns |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 6.0 / 10 (233,062 votes) → 6.0 / 10 (233,086 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $413.1M; Domestic box office $177.2M; Opening weekend $54.2M; Profit / loss (est.) -$18.4M; Rotten Tomatoes 43%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 43% (168 reviews); Metacritic 42 / 100; IMDb users 6.0 / 10 (233,062 votes); movie.guru score 3.2.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget.