Modern Pop Culture Icons Make Shocking Appearances In Night At The Museum 2

Before the screening of Wolverine tonight, we were treated to a handful of trailers including one for Ice Age 3 – now with added Simon Pegg – and another for the Smithsonian-set Night at the Museum sequel. I was a little surprised by this new version of the Museum trailer as it featured two pretty darn surprising cameos...

Apparently, they must have some kind of groovy pop culture exhibit at the Smithsonian, at least judging from this movie. To protect you from being spoiled, I'll put a break here before revealing who they are.

Actual shot from the movie:

Darth Vade in Night at the Museum

The first to appear, and suddenly too, is none other than perennial number-one movie baddie, Darth Vader. Cue the inevitable heavy breathing gag, of course. I was really quite surprised to see such a popular and, dare I say it, iconic character getting woven into this film but also gently amused. I don't know how much he'll have to do. Perhaps he'll get to wield his lightsaber a little...? Or maybe he'll just huff and puff a bit before going off screen for the rest of the picture? My money is on the latter.

Even better, the next cameo revealed was a true TV hero. Getting just the one line in was Oscar the Grouch. Leaning out of his trash can, of course, and sharing the screen with Vader, Oscar pretty much stole the trailer for me.

It's odd but Oscar probably, and Vader definitely, got more screen time than Amy Adams in the trailer – and she's one of the key stars of the piece. Who are they marketing this to? What sort of role have they saddled her with that they now want to hide it from their target audience?

This new trailer also suggests that the products in the gift shop come to life, as well as the exhibits, with a clip that features a little load of Einstein bobble heads put to task in solving some kind of logic quandary.

The remainder of the trailer was pretty much business as usual. The film appears to be at least as amusing as the first, which really isn't very, but with a bonus muppet who, trashcan stench or not, certainly isn't to be sniffed at.