With nostalgic PG movies proving to be a gold mine for ticket sales, it was only a matter of time before one of the biggest family film IPs of the ’00s made a comeback.

Filmmaker Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment banner (Stranger Things) is developing a new Night at the Museum film at Disney’s 20th Century Studios, reuniting the original director and the two companies behind the original hit film trilogy (though 20th was under Fox ownership at the time). 

Tripper Clancy (Die Hart) is writing the script, which is said to feature a new set of characters, but no other storyline details are available. Representing 21 Laps, Levy and Dan Levine are producing, with Emily Morris overseeing the project.

Starring actor Ben Stiller and based on a 1993 kids book by Milan Trenc, the original Night at the Museum (2006) revolved around a night guard who is forced to deal with utter chaos when exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History come to life after sundown. 

The family comedy was a box-office success, with a US$574.5-million run—and it was followed by live-action sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (US$413 million) in 2009 and 2014’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (pictured, US$363 million). 

After Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century in 2019, the Mouse House aged down the billion-dollar franchise with a 2D-animated Disney+ flick called Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again (2022).