Museum attendance also comes to life

After the release of the 2006 blockbuster family comedy “Night at the Museum” about a night watchman (Ben Stiller) who discovers that the exhibits come alive after-hours, director Shawn Levy received “countless” thank-you letters from parents and kids all over the country, and from museum curators who saw an increase in visitors as a result of the film.

“The fact that it was made for entertainment value and ended up being a catalyst for an interest in history and museums has been phenomenal,” Levy says. “Though I don’t have moralistic aspirations as a director -- or educational ones -- I really treasure this opportunity.”

Because attendance at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, where the movie was set, rose 20% after the release of the film, Levy had no problem brokering a deal with Washington’s Smithsonian Institution to film the sequel, “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian,” which opens May 22.

“They wanted the same effect,” Levy says. “We filmed at several of the real museums at the Smithsonian. And we also built a replica of the Air and Space Museum in Vancouver. It was a big operation.”

Besides Stiller, several other key actors from the original movie, which made $574.5 million internationally, reprise their roles, including Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan and Robin Williams (as Theodore Roosevelt). New to the mixture is Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, Hank Azaria as the evil Kahmunrah, Bill Hader as George Armstrong Custer, Christopher Guest as Ivan the Terrible and Jonah Hill as a fellow night watchman.

And just as with the first installment, Levy allows his actors to go on instinct. “There’s a year of prep on my part, but I give full leeway to improvise. It gives a looseness to the comedy that visual effects and adventure movies don’t really have,” he says.

-- Susan King