The event, last night, was to celebrate the launch of the DVD of Night of the Museum - which is out today. The event is not the only activity being organised by Fox to celebrate the launch of the DVD - there are also a number of educational activities involving children from across the country, including an initiative with Museum and Galleries Month. When Director Shawn Levy made Night at the Museum he hoped that it would help to bring museums to life for children and it would seem he has had a fair bit of success the Natural History Museums, in both LA and New York, have seen their footfall rise by 12.5% since the film was released and there is anecdotal evidence of footfall increase in museums here in the UK. Indeed, so much interest was shown in the films characters that the props, all of which are of museum quality and historically accurate, are now on display in the LA Museum. Fox Home Entertainment want to bring Museums to life for children here in the UK, which is why we have joined forces with Michaela Strachan to organise a number of activities. As well as co-hosting last night's event with Ricky Gervais, who played Dr Mcphee the museum's curator, Michaela has also fronted a schools competition aimed at encouraging children to become more involved in bringing history and natural history to life.
Over 1000 schools were invited to write a poem or draw a picture about the characters who feature in the film to win a chance to have Michaela come to their school. Over 100 entered in just one week! Michaela will be vesting two lucky schools later in the month and holding a talk on Natural History. She also made a podcast behind the scenes at the museum, last night, which will be available on-line so children across the country can see what it is like to experience the Natural History Museum.
On May 19th children from across the country will be able to attend their local museum for a 'Night at the Museum', as 50 museums join forces to host a screening of the film and a spooky night-time tour as part of European Museum and Galleries Month -the full list of museums participating can be found at www.mgm.org.uk Night at the Museum