Robin Williams' Blockbuster Final Ride

The third “Night at the Museum” movie marks an opportunity to say goodbye to the comic in the same way we met him: with laughter.

“Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” which opens Friday, won’t be Robin Williams’ last, posthumous movie-house outing. He provided the voice of a talking dog in next year’s sci-fi comedy, “Absolutely Anything,” and it’s possible the drama, “Boulevard,” eventually will reach an audience beyond April’s Tribeca Film Festival. 

But it’s safe to say the third “Night at the Museum” movie will mark Williams’ final, in-the-flesh appearance in a big-budget, mass-market, holiday season comedy. More significantly, the film offers an opportunity for fans to say goodbye to the comic in the same way he first greeted us nearly 40 years ago: with laughter.

Some four months after Williams took his own life, many of us are still trying to reconcile how the great comic died with the force-of-nature legacy he forged as our fastest and one of our funniest sources of humor.

From “Mork & Mindy” to his stand-up routines to his movies, Williams seemingly joked his way through his demons with a rapid-fire, multi-personality style that made him a box office star and a figure beloved by many. His lofty spot in movie comedy history never dropped, even if the final years of his career didn’t maintain the heights scaled in the likes of “Moscow on the Hudson,” “Good Morning, Vietnam” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.”

The “Night at the Museum” franchise, which debuted in 2006, exposed Williams to a younger audience that perhaps knew him only from his vocal acrobatics as the genie in the animated “Aladdin.” He didn’t get top billing in “Museum” flicks – neither did the late Mickey Rooney, once the most popular film star in the world, who takes his final bow in the Ben Stiller comedy.

But there’s no such thing as small parts when it comes to movie giants. Williams returns for his third and last go-around in the pivotal role of Teddy Roosevelt, another larger-than-life figure and far from a museum piece.

“Night of the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” which caps the film comedy series, offers the promise of a bittersweet, fresh burst of humor from Williams amid the lingering sadness from his tragic demise. Check out a preview as Williams charges onto the big screen for the last time, taking us for one final ride into his manic, comic world. 

Jere Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multimedia NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is also the author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family." Follow him on Twitter.

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