It had been long enough for me to think a third Night at the Museum, words that are no fun to type, would just never happen. To be fair, it’s not like I have any real stake in the project’s existence one way or the other — save for whatever irritation comes in having to write about the thing — but I have to ask if this is something we, as a whole society, can afford to have out there.

Fox can. Tweeted out by ERCBoxOffice is the news that Night at the Museum 3 isn’t even a complete calendar year away, as the studio have set a December 25th, 2014 opening for Shawn Levy and Ben Stiller to do that whole business again. All of which feels quick, though it was over a year ago when the former said a screenplay (currently unattributed) was being fashioned, so, maybe we should’ve seen this coming. If we could’ve been bothered.

Alright, now for something that we don’t know is going to be bad. Also noted by ERCBoxOffice is the placement of Maze Runner, a sci-fi actioner that Fox had tapped Wes Ball to direct back in late August. Despite its high-concept underpinnings, quiet progress, and lack of anything other than a helmer, the studio are expecting to have this one out in just over a year, on February 14th, 2014 — a date which I doubt has been chosen for its romantic associations, but because it just happens to be a Friday.

However, possibly foolishly, I’m hoping for the best on this one. Maze Runner‘s plot outline is kind of neat, from an initial perspective — a boy, Thomas, awakens in The Glade, a spatially oppressive and maze-like environment that must be escaped from — and Ball is behind for an animated short, Ruin, that has visual kineticism which could, conceivably, carry over into live-action. The results of that prediction are not so far off.

Watch that below:

Thoughts on a third Museum? Does anything about Maze Runner exude potential?