'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian' will go to FX in 2011.
FX has picked up the basic cable rights to Memorial Day weekend box office champ "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian."
Cabler has inked a typical four-year movie license deal with its 20th Century Fox sibling that calls for a rights fee of about 12% of the pic's domestic take. Pic will become available to FX in November 2011.
Based on the four-day $70 million haul and grosses that could tally past $200 million if the film has summer legs, FX could shell out more than $24 million.
"Museum" buy adds to FX's recent string of theatrical purchases.
Last month it acquired summer hits "Star Trek" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" in deals with similar financial terms. It also has the rights to "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," set to bow June 24.
The first "Night at the Museum," which banked more than $250 million domestically after opening in December 2006, premiered on FX last week to strong numbers.
Other theatrical preems upcoming on the cabler this year include "Wild Hogs," "Spider-Man 3" and "Live Free or Die Hard."
Contact Stuart Levine at
stuart.levine@variety.com