Trivia
Fun facts about the series, ranging from production information to costume design and everything in between!
These don't have enough information to make up a whole page on their own, so they get to rest on this page!
This page will be updated randomly, so check back often!
Theories have been moved to the Fandom Miscellaneous page. Any information regarding such speculation will be archived here if it is interesting trivia about the film, but speculation about the theories themselves remains on that page.
Night at the Museum
- Octavius's armor is based on that of the Flavian dynasty, which puts the Rome seen in the films somewhere between CE 69 nice and CE 96. The Colosseum is complete, so it exists after the year CE 80, under either Titus or Domitian. [armor analysis]
- According to the Borders Exclusive flash cards, Octavius is Gaius Octavius Caesar Augustus, Rome's first emperor. This is a weird discrepancy, considering the previous fact, but that just makes trying to solve it all the more fun, right?
- The junior novelization by Leslie Goldman claims Jedediah to be Jedediah Strong Smith (J.S.S.), a cartographer and mountain man who mapped the American West. Strong Smith was not a cowboy, or even a Westerner; but was from New York. Some promos for the series support this, calling him Jedediah Smith.
- This film did increase visits to the AMNH in winter 2006/7.
- This is Rami Malek's film debut.
- Octavius's "Mary" line may be a reference to Stiller's role in There's Something About Mary, a film from 1998.
Battle of the Smithsonian
- This is the first movie filmed inside the Smithsonian Institution.
- This film was the final film that Caroll Spinney, the original Muppeteer of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, performed in. Spinney continued to work on Sesame Workshop TV productions until his retirement in 2018.
- The snow day painting that is seen before the VJ-Day scene was custom-made for the film. Some of the other works seen, including American Gothic, Nighthawks, and Crying Girl, have never been in the museum's walls.
- Ivan's mistranslation quote isn't entirely incorrect. His title translates from Russian to something like "magnificent" or "fearsome".
- Amelia's "for the fun of it" line is taken from Earheart's 1932 autobiography of the same name.
- For those concerned with cinematography, the film literally feels different due to its aspect ratio. The first and third films had an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, while this one has a ratio of 2.39:1. For the rest of us, the first and third films were shot with standard theater screens in mind. NATM 2, as the outlier, was shot with widescreen theaters in mind. This is likely because, as the sequel, they needed to "go big or go home", and this extended to the aspect ratio.
Secret of the Tomb
- Rather famously, this was Robin Williams' first onscreen performance aired after his death. As such, his "last words" were said here for the kids watching the films. Famously, they are: "Smile, my boy - it's sunrise."
- Hugh Jackman's role is a reference to his acting debut at age 5, where he played King Arthur in a production of Camelot.
Kahmunrah Rises Again
- According to the concepts done by Joey Mason, Ahkmenrah may have appeared in an earlier draft of the film.
- Greg Baldwin, best known for his role as Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Aku in Samurai Jack, auditioned to be Teddy for this film.
Admin: He said this to my friend when they got his autograph at Momocon 2023 - if he appears at Anime Weekend Atlanta, or Momocon, I'll get a recording! - A majority of the artists that worked on the film are Brazilian, with contracts at Atomic Cartoon, the studio behind the animation.
- Octavius claims to be trained by the Praetorian Guard, which existed from CE 27 to CE 312.