Previously owned by Fox, the Night at the Museum franchise is getting an animated reboot courtesy of Disney+; here’s why it should be a live-action sitcom instead. Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox is well-documented and has resulted in a number of Fox properties receiving the reboot treatment. TDI recently announced that the Night at the Museum franchise would be among this lineup - with an animated feature film, Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again, set to be released in 2021. The original Night at the Museum trilogy starred Ben Stiller as Larry, a divorced father trying to make ends meet, who lands a job as a night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History, only to discover that the exhibits come to life at night - powered by a spooky Egyptian tablet.
Based on a 1993 picture book of the same name, 2006’s Night at the Museum was a critical and financial hit, spawning two sequels - Battle of the Smithsonian (2009) and Secret of the Tomb (2014). While many critics disregard the sequels, all three movies form a cohesive trilogy; each building on the previous film, with higher stakes and more thematic value than they’re generally given credit for. The concept alone is genius - the creation of Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc - and has a magical, timeless quality befitting Disney’s historic output.
Fundamentally, however, a Night At The Museum reboot ought to do something new. As far as feature films are concerned, the original Night at the Museum trilogy has all the bases covered; there’s very little that could be done within the confines of a movie that wouldn’t feel like a retread of the series that came before. Instead, a different format should be applied - that of the television sitcom; at home on the Disney+ platform.
Frankly, it’s a no-brainer: The entire premise of Night at the Museum is not only perfect Disney TV show material but also perfect sitcom fodder - focusing on a set of recurring characters within a single location, with endless storytelling possibilities at its disposal. The various historic exhibits offer tons of scope to explore different pseudo-educational subject matter, and temporary exhibits (on loan from other museums) could allow guest stars to really shine. Battle of the Smithsonian and Secret of the Tomb introduced the idea that paintings and photographs become portals to other worlds under the spell of the tablet; their environs rendered in the style of the original artwork. What’s more, Battle of the Smithsonian brought pop culture exhibits into the mix - with memorable cameos from Star Wars’ Darth Vader and Sesame Street's Oscar the Grouch - if the entirety of real-world history wasn’t a big enough canvas.
With a well-made, family-friendly sitcom, Night at the Museum could be like the American equivalent of Doctor Who; where history bumps up against creativity and the only limitations in place are the writer’s imagination and a television budget. Disney don’t seem to have any problems in the latter regard - with recent Disney+ projects like The Mandalorian sporting visuals effects that could rival most contemporary features. A Night at the Museum film reboot would likely be futile, whereas a longer-form narrative (like that of a sitcom) would allow the audience to luxuriate in the franchise’s spellbinding premise.