Farewell to a movie franchise - and the 'soul' of the series

Los Angeles

AFTER wrapping his last shot of Robin Williams in Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb in May, Shawn Levy, the movie's director, joined Ben Stiller, its star, in an on-set tribute to Williams. The film's crew responded with a standing ovation. Caught on video, the applause went on for two minutes.

"It was the last scene of his last movie," said Mr Levy, who described the moment during an interview on the 20th Century Fox lot here last month. "We did not know it was the end" of Mr Williams' film work, he said, "but we did know it was the end of the franchise."