Night at the Museum Sequel Had to Be Animated to Avoid Recasting Too Soon

Movies

The newest "Night at the Museum" movie had to be animated, because almost every major role had been recast.

Published on January 3, 2023

Fans of Night at the Museum can find the series on Disney+. The platform recently released a sequel titled Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again. The plot features a grown Nick becoming the night security guard at the Museum of Natural History.

Besides Nick, the movie has other familiar faces returning for another adventure. Another notable aspect of the sequel is that it is not live-action. The creator explained they animated the film to avoid an early recast.

‘Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again’ has different stars

In early December, people got to see the animated sequel Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again. Some fans of the trilogy were happy to see a continuation of the story. They got to see several characters return, but the previous actors did not reprise their roles.

For example, Ben Stiller played the role of Larry in all three films. The first two movies are on the list for some of his highest-grossing works. Despite Stiller being the face of the series, Zachary Levi voices Larry in the more recent installment.

Another cast change was Theodore Roosevelt. Many fans enjoyed Robin Williams’ performance as the former president’s wax replica. The replacement was a given since the actor passed away. The third movie was one of his last film roles, and Thomas Lennon stepped in to voice Roosevelt. Many iconic side characters had a cast change as well.

Kelemete Misipeka replaced Brad Garrett as the Easter Island Head. Meanwhile, Kieran Sequoia now portrays the wax model of Sacagawea. Steve Zahn and Jack Whitehall voice miniatures Jedediah and Octavius, respectively.

The ‘Night at the Museum’ sequel is animated to avoid a live-action recast

Some fans may have felt disappointed not to hear the previous cast voice their characters. Not to mention, they might have thought it was odd that the filmmakers animated the fourth movie. However, director Shawn Levy explained in an interview with Collider that animation allowed the team to do different things. The medium offers them a way to create visual spectacles they could not do in the previous installments.

“This is a way to go to another chapter without dealing with recasting Ben Stiller and all these other characters and actors who are still very much vibrant and in the culture,” Levy said.

The characters would look different due to other stars playing them in a live-action sequel. Animation can give them a bit more leeway with the casting. It might be years before we get another non-animated Night at the Museum film. Nevertheless, fans can expect more Night at the Museum soon in another format…

A ‘Night at the Museum’ musical is in the works

In an interview, Levy also revealed he has plans for a Night at the Museum musical on Broadway. He got the idea about five years ago as an alternative to rebooting the live-action series. Broadway World reports that Levy is co-writing the script, but the potential release date is unknown.

“Well, I’m here to tell you that the pace of Broadway development is it makes movie development look lightning quick. It’s super frustrating,” Levy explained. “But we have had our first workshop. We have the script, we have the songs.”

The project is a big musical production, so planning everything may take a while. Furthermore, COVID-19 had an impact on the show’s production. “It is not five to 10 years away, but it’s not a year away either,” he said.

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