MGM 2007 celebrates Museums and Galleries throughout the UK during May.

Museums up and down the UK are showing the Hollywood hit Night at the Museum this weekend for Museums and Galleries Month 2007. Our East Midlands Chloé Titcomb reports on how Rutland Museum will be rising to the occasion.

For one night only, Rutland County Museum will be transformed into a cinema for a special film screening of the aptly named Hollywood film, ‘Night at the Museum’.

One hundred people will be admitted free to the screening, organised as part of Museums and Galleries Month 2007, on Wednesday May 23, with doors opening at 6:30 and the film beginning at 7:30.

As well as enjoying the film screening, it is a chance to see the whole museum in a different light. “It will be a good opportunity to show people all the changes that have taken place here over the last year,” said Simon Davies, Museum Services Manager.

The transformation will see the popular local museum transformed into a cinema. © Rutland County Museum

The hit 2006 film, starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson and Ricky Gervais is set in New York’s Natural History Museum, where the exhibits, including dinosaur skeletons Attila the Hun and Teddy Roosevelt, all come to life at night. As it is rated PG, it is a film that the whole family can enjoy.

The museum is striving to make the experience as authentic as possible, “We will also be putting on a few special appearances of our own to add to the atmosphere of the occasion,” added Simon,

“We have done all we can to ensure that none of the Museum’s exhibits come to life in the dark, but we are concerned a few strange events may occur while the film is showing.”

Whilst admission is free, tickets are limited to 100 and are likely to go quickly so it is advisable to get there early. For further information, call Rutland County Museum on 01572 758440.

To discover more MGM 2007 events featured on 24 Hour Museum or to find a museum near you showing Night at the Museum just enter MGM into the search box on this page or see the what's on page to search by date or place.

Chloé Titcomb is a Renaissance-funded student journalist covering MGM events in the East Midlands. Renaissance is the groundbreaking initiative to transform England's regional museums, led by MLA, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.