Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is a 2009 American fantasy comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. The film stars Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Christopher Guest, Alain Chabat and Robin Williams. It is the second film in the Night at the Museum series, following Night at the Museum (2006).

The film was theatrically released on May 22, 2009, by 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews and became a box-office success, grossing $413 million on a $150 million budget. A third film, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, was released in 2014, and an animated sequel, Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again, was released in 2022.

PLOT

Two years after the events of the first film, Larry Daley has left his job as night guard at the American Museum of Natural History to start a company selling his own inventions on direct response television. He visits the museum and learns that most of the exhibits are scheduled to be moved to the Smithsonian Institution archives in Washington, D.C. and replaced with holographic displays. Furthermore, the Tablet of Ahkmenrah will remain, leaving the departing exhibits without the ability to come to life at night.

Larry receives a panicked phone call from miniature cowboy Jedediah, who explains that Dexter the monkey stole the tablet, the Smithsonian is now alive, and they are under attack by Ahkmenrah’s older brother Kahmunrah. Determined to save them, Larry travels to Washington, D.C. and poses as a night guard to sneak into the archives, where he finds his friends trapped by Kahmunrah, who plans to use the tablet’s powers to open the Gate of the Underworld and conquer the world.

Aided by Major General George A. Custer, who is captured, Larry is joined by Amelia Earhart. They evade Kahmunrah’s soldiers inside the photograph of V-J Day in Times Square, leading Kahmunrah to enlist Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon Bonaparte and Al Capone to retrieve the tablet. Larry is captured, but when the tablet fails to open the Gate, Kahmunrah traps Jedediah in an hourglass and gives Larry one hour to decipher the tablet’s combination.

Amelia has fallen in love with Larry, and the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial mistakes them for a couple as they reach the National Air and Space Museum, where Larry has to stop all the rockets and aircraft from taking off. They encounter various figures from the history of flight, including the Wright brothers, a squadron of Tuskegee Airmen, and Able the space monkey, while a group of Albert Einstein bobbleheads explain that the combination is the value of pi. Napoleon, Ivan, Capone and their troops arrive, prompting Larry and Amelia to escape in the Wright Flyer.

They crash into the Smithsonian, where Kahmunrah uses the combination to open the Gate and summon an army of Horus warriors. Miniature Roman general Octavius arrives with the statue of Lincoln, frightening the warriors back to the Underworld, and Amelia gathers an army of allies, including Larry’s friends and Custer, leading to a climactic battle. Larry helps Custer overcome his fear of repeating the Battle of Little Big Horn, while Octavius rescues Jedediah. Larry recovers the tablet and turns Capone, Napoleon and Ivan against each other. Armed with his flashlight, Larry duels a khopesh-wielding Kahmunrah as Amelia reopens the Gate, allowing Larry to banish Kahmunrah to the Underworld.

After she flies Larry and the New York exhibits home, Amelia reveals that she knows she is only a wax figure. She and Larry share a kiss before she flies back to the Smithsonian, almost taking a wrong turn to Canada. Two months later, Larry has sold his company and made an anonymous donation to renovate the Natural History Museum and extend its nighttime visiting hours when the exhibits are alive; believed to be animatronics and hired reenactors, the exhibits are now able to interact with visitors. Back in his job as night guard, Larry meets a visitor named Tess who bears a striking resemblance to Amelia and who also has a habit of getting lost.