On this special Halloween episode, Amy looks at how Hollywood portrays museums in movies. From the Sanderson Witch Museum in Hocus Pocus to exhibits that come to life in Night at the Museum, she shares lighthearted takeaways for museum professionals about storytelling, engagement, and using pop culture to inspire programming and marketing. Grab your popcorn and your pumpkin spice latte and enjoy this spooky cinematic detour!

Links from the Episode:

• Hocus Pocus: IMDb
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: IMDb
• Thomas Crown Affair: IMDb
• National Treasure: IMDb
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: IMDb
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier: IMDb

More Free Resources for Museums:

• Museum Planning Calendar
• Museum Metrics Template

About the host: 

Amy Kehs is a brand strategist and communications expert for museums. She has owned Kehs Communications since 2000 and has worked for the most renowned and well-loved museums in Washington, D.C. Her goal is to ensure that museums thrive into the next century and she hopes people will come to love museums as much as she does. Her proven process sets up proactive communication habits for museums, cultivating relationships with visitors who will want to return and bring a friend. Want to talk more? Click this link to book a call.

Halloween is almost here, and on this special episode, we're diving

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into museums in the movies from the

Sanderson Witch Museum to exhibits

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that come to life at the Smithsonian.

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Grab your pumpkin spice latte

and the Let's get started.

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Hello and welcome to the

Love My Museum podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Keys

and I love museums.

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I'm also a brand strategist and

communications expert for museums,

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and I thought that with Halloween,

just around the corner, I thought it

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would be fun to do a special episode

that looks at museums in the movies.

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How museums are portrayed in

some of our favorite movies.

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Now, full disclosure, I'm also going

to try to pull a few lessons from

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these films for museum professionals.

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It might be a little bit of a stretch,

so we'll just see how this works out.

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Now as a museum professional, do you

take note when a museum is a location or

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even takes on a starring role in a movie?

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And what movies with museums come to mind?

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For you, and do you think that

there is anything that we can

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learn from the way that Hollywood

portrays our favorite spaces?

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The idea for this episode

came about this past summer.

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I was talking to a friend about the movie

Hocus Pocus, which if you don't know,

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as a movie that came out in 1993, and

now it is a bit of a Halloween classic.

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It's set in Salem, Massachusetts.

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There are three witches.

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They're resurrected on Halloween night

and they cause chaos in the town.

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And the Sanderson Witch Museum

is a key location in the film.

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It's a fictional museum that showcases

the witches history, and it becomes

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a central plot point, especially

when the characters discover that.

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The museum houses these secret

magical artifacts and actually, some

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of the scenes were filmed at Pioneer

Village in Salem, which is America's

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first Living history museum, CM.

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Finding a signature seasonal

event that you repeat annually.

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Make sure a museum a part

of your visitors' lives.

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The next movie, actually it's

a series of movies, is the

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Night at the Museum franchise.

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So there was a first night at the museum

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then night at the Museum Battle of the

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Then night at the Museum, secret of the

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And all of these films explore the

idea that exhibits are coming to life.

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After hours, and I know just the idea of

that has sprung up night at the museum

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events at museums all over the world.

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Now, just for our little chat today,

let's talk about Battle of the

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Smithsonian, which is my favorite.

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The film features the Smithsonian's

National Air and Space Museum, and also

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the National Gallery of Art, which is

the museum directly across the National

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Mall from the Air and Space Museum.

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There are miniature

cowboys and Roman soldiers.

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Historical figures like Amelia Earhart and

Teddy Roosevelt come to life and they're

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roaming the halls and creating chaos.

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I think the series really has helped to

captivate children and help them think

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of museums as being fun and magical.

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And so now they might walk through a

museum thinking, oh, is this going to come

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to life after the doors close at night?

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The next movie I wanna talk

about is the Thomas Crown Affair.

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Now, there's an older version of

this, and I have seen it, but it's

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been a while and I think actually

they're making a new one right now.

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But.

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The one that kind of stands out

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of the Thomas Crown Affair.

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It's about a billionaire Thomas crown.

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He steals a priceless painting from

the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and

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then there's kind of a cat and mouse

game with the insurance investigator.

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I remember watching this movie, especially

the iconic cat and mouse chase scene,

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and it does such a great job of.

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Not just using the men as a backdrop, but

it also almost becomes its own character.

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They, they do a great job showcasing

the architecture and the lighting.

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Now, I think the takeaway for

this is that your museum's space

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is also part of your brand.

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The lighting, the signage, even

the layout can help you tell the

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story of your collection even

before visitors get to the museum.

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I mean, I think about my own camera

roll and how many photos I have

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of museum floors and ceilings.

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Anytime I walk into the west building

of the National Gallery of Art,

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I cannot help but stop and take a

picture of the gorgeous dome ceiling.

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So embrace that.

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When you're working on your brand and

your brand identity, what is it about

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your museum space that is special?

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The next movie I wanna talk

about is National Treasure.

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This came out in 2004 and it's

one of my family's favorites.

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We watch it almost every 4th of July.

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If you haven't seen National Treasure,

it's about the a Treasure Hunter

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Benjamin Franklin Gates, and he

deciphers historical clues to uncover.

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Hidden treasure and there are

key scenes that take place at the

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National Archives in Washington, dc.

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Also, independence Hall in Philadelphia.

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Benjamin Franklin Gates kind

of crashes a black tie event.

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He's trying to examine the Declaration

of Independence for secret messages.

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I think the key takeaway for this

movie is that museums can spark

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curiosity, like a treasure hunt.

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A lot of times I think we are excited

about artifacts, but we don't do a

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great job of commuting to our visitors.

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Why they should be excited

about the artifact too.

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And don't forget that when you

are communicating and telling the

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stories of your artifacts, whether

that's on your website or on social

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media, or in a pitch to a journalist,

make sure you are highlighting

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the whole story of that artifact.

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How was it found?

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How was it used in the past?

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was there a treasure map or did

you have to decipher historical

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clues to find out more about it?

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Was it a mystery?

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Did the curator or archivist or

archeologists have to actually go

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on a treasure hunt to find out more?

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How did you solve the mystery?

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Okay, the next one might seem

like a strange choice, but.

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Stay with me.

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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

featuring one of my favorite

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characters, Indiana Jones.

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It features the iconic line a

couple of times in the movie where

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Indiana says it belongs in a museum

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now, while most of the adventure

does take place outside.

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Of a museum, like all of the Indiana

Jones movies, he has museum affiliations.

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He has respect for the artifacts.

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I just love that side of him.

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I think sometimes just like showing that

our artifacts can have a history and maybe

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have been part of their own treasure hunt.

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I think that you can also position your

museum as a trusted storyteller showing

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why objects matter and you can add depth

to that visitor experience, and it also

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helps your community appreciate and value.

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Your collection as well.

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This next one might surprise you,

but it was a no-brainer for my list.

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Captain America Winter Soldier came

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scene in there at the Smithsonian's

National Air and Space Museum.

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Captain America is reflecting, he's

looking at the, the legacy of his uniform.

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It is a subtle nod to the

museum world, but I was so

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excited when I saw that scene.

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it's just a powerful reminder

of how museums can connect

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people to the people of history.

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Such a great scene.

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So do you think you will add any of

these to your fall must watch list?

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And do you think I've missed any?

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A couple of others that came up when I

was researching this and that I thought

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about including were Oceans Eight

Great movie, uh, the Da Vinci Code.

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I haven't seen that one in a while,

but a lot of the action unfolds in the

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Louvre Museum and in Paris and revolves

around a lot of the artifacts there.

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one movie that I haven't

seen is The Monuments Men.

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It's a historical drama about art

historians who are tasked with protecting

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cultural treasures during World War ii.

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I think I'm gonna add

that to my watch list.

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A couple of other movies that have

memorable museum scenes are Ferris

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Bueller's, day Off, Ghostbusters two.

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That would be a good

Halloween movie to watch.

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maybe you want to do a movie

screening of one of these.

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Maybe you'll come up with your

own treasure map or treasure hunt.

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Maybe you can think of a way

that one of these movies could

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spark an idea for a family day.

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Movies may take liberties with

history, magic, or even physics, but

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through these films, I think Hollywood

is showing people that museums are

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exciting and that the artifacts

inside them have a life all their own.

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If you don't already, I hope you'll

start watching for how museums show

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up in film, and think about how you

might take advantage of these pop

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culture icons in your own programming.

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Thanks so much for joining me

on this Halloween detour on

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the Love My Museum podcast.

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I hope you'll make your own museum

movie watch list, and grab some popcorn.

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And also think about how these films

can inspire your fall programming

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and your visitor experiences.

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That's all for today.

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I'll see you next time.