History Trivia / AlvinAndtheChipmunks

* FollowTheLeader: In the immediate aftermath of "The Chipmunk Song" there was the emergence of other sped-up musical productions like Music/TheNuttySquirrels and "The Happy Reindeer" by Dancer, Prancer and Nervous, a moderate Christmas novelty hit in 1959. In TheSeventies there was Shirley & Squirrely, who jumped on the HollywoodCB bandwagon and scored a Top 40 hit on the CountryMusic chart with "Hey Shirley (This Is Squirrely)". In 1975 there was also a point-for-point CoverVersion of "The Chipmunk Song" credited to The Whales, using the exact opposite gimmick of slowing voices down to give them a BassoProfundo sound, though it wasn't a hit.

* HeAlsoDid: In the early years of the franchise, Ross Bagdasarian would do variety show appearances with rotating sets of Chipmunk puppets, with one set designed by none other than Creator/BobClampett (during his ''[[WesternAnimation/BeanyAndCecil Time for Beany]]'' era).

* SleeperHit: David Seville had already scored a #1 novelty hit in 1958 with "Witch Doctor", but no one expected that "The Chipmunk Song" (Christmas, Don't Be Late)" would become one of the biggest selling singles in the history of recorded music up to that point, with over 6 million copies sold. According to Creator/LibertyRecords, it sold 600,000 copies ''in a single day'' in December of '58, with even places like flower shops and cigar shops stocking the single. It's also credited with singlehandedly saving Liberty from bankruptcy.

** Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and David Seville are all voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in "The Chipmunk Song".

* ApprovalOfGod: Ross Bagdasarian Sr. asked Music/TheBeatles for permission to record ''The Chipmunks Sing the Beatles Hits'' in 1964. The Fab Four said yes, but on the condition that the Chipmunks would just sing the songs straight without any comedic gimmicks, so they did.

** The entire franchise almost didn't happen. After writing "The Chipmunk Song" in 1958, Ross Bagdasarian recognized that it had a catchy melody, but wasn't sure if the public would buy the "chipmunk" concept, so he attempted to redo it as both an {{Instrumental}} and a straight pop song called "In a Village Park", before deciding that the chipmunk version worked the best.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: An art portfolio of Creator/DanHaskett's has a series of drawings of the Chipettes all grown up, which might possibly lead to an animated Chipmunks movie where the Chipmunks and Chipettes grew up.

* FollowTheLeader: In the immediate aftermath of "The Chipmunk Song" there was the emergence of other sped-up musical productions like Music/TheNuttySquirrels and "The Happy Reindeer" by Dancer, Prancer and Nervous, a moderate Christmas novelty hit in 1959. In TheSeventies there was Shirley & Squirrely, who jumped on the HollywoodCB bandwagon and scored a Top 40 hit on the CountryMusic chart with “Hey Shirley (This Is Squirrely)”.

* OutlivedItsCreator: The franchise well outlived Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who passed away in 1972. His son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., took over the franchise in the 1980s.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://alvin.wikia.com/ Munkapedia]]

* FranchiseKiller: While the previous three Chipmunks films did well at the box office (although they all had a poor critical reception), Twentieth Century Fox, originally planning a December 23rd release for the fourth installment of the series, decided to cash in on counter-programming [[ReleaseDateChange by bumping it up to a]] [[SuicidalOverconfidence downright suicidal]] Dec. 18th date, putting it in direct competition with the highly anticipated ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' from former longtime partner Creator/{{Lucasfilm}}, who disassociated themselves from Fox after being bought by Creator/{{Disney}}. ''The Road Chip'' didn't stand a chance -- ''The Force Awakens'' proceeded to [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolish it]] at the box office, raking in a record-breaking $100 million on opening day ''alone'' and over $1 billion worldwide just barely after its first week, making it ''the highest-grossing film of the 2010s''. ''The Road Chip'' crashed and burned at a meager $14,287,159 on the same weekend, limping to $47,539,910 the same week, then $64,050,442 worldwide. On top of that, ''The Force Awakens'' was universally lauded by critics as a true-to-form comeback for the ''Star Wars'' franchise, while ''The Road Chip'' was utterly eviscerated by critics. In all likelihood, the film's resounding failure brought the Chipmunks film series to an end, being the second negative business-changing bust of the year for Fox after [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the attempted Fantastic Four reboot]]. Fortunately, ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough to escape this fate.

* ReleaseDateChange: The film was originally targeted for a December 23, 2015 release, but [[SuicidalOverconfidence Fox changed it to the same date as]] [[CashCowFranchise the highly-anticipated seventh]] ''[[CashCowFranchise Star Wars]]'' [[CashCowFranchise movie]] in an attempt to cash in on counter-programming. While not making as much money as previous films in the series, it's surprisingly done rather well, with a worldwide gross of $171,423,832 as of February 9th.

* FranchiseKiller: While the previous three Chipmunks films did well at the box office (although they all had a poor critical reception), 20th Century Fox, originally planning a December 23rd release for the fourth installment of the series, decided to cash in on counter-programming [[ReleaseDateChange by bumping it up to a]] [[SuicidalOverconfidence downright suicidal]] Dec. 18th date, putting it in direct competition with the highly anticipated ''[[Film/TheForceAwakens Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens]]'' from former longtime partner Lucasfilm, who disassociated themselves from Fox after being bought by Disney. ''The Road Chip'' didn't stand a chance -- ''The Force Awakens'' proceeded to [[CurbStompBattle utterly demolish it]] at the box office, raking in a record-breaking $100 million on opening day ''alone'' and over $1 billion worldwide just barely after its first week, making it ''the highest-grossing film of the 2010s''. ''The Road Chip'' crashed and burned at a meager $14,287,159 on the same weekend, limping to $47,539,910 the same week, then $64,050,442 worldwide. On top of that, ''The Force Awakens'' was universally lauded by critics as a true-to-form comeback for the ''Star Wars'' franchise, while ''The Road Chip'' was utterly eviscerated by critics. In all likelihood, the film's resounding failure brought the Chipmunks film series to an end, being the second negative business-changing bust of the year for Fox after [[Film/FantasticFour2015 the attempted Fantastic Four reboot]]. Fortunately, ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough to escape this fate.
* TheOtherDarrin: Creator/AmyPoehler doesn't reprise her role of Eleanor in this film (due to her being too busy with Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut''); Creator/KaleyCuoco takes over.

* RecycledScript: "Home Sweet Home" (season 7, episode 2a) parallels "My Pharoah Lady" (season 5, episode 2b). In the former, Alvin claims that Michael Jackson will visit the school in exchange for votes for Carnival King (in which Ricky is also campaigning for). In the latter, Brittany bets Missy Snootson that if King Rutintootin was not real, then Brittany would resign from running from Carnival Queen. Unlike "Pharoah Lady" (where Brittany loses the bet at the end), Alvin's fate for Carnival King is unconclusive.

* DuelingShows: With ''Series/KidsIncorporated'', a SliceOfLife series featuring pre-teen characters whom also happened to cover popular songs.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: An art portfolio of Creator/DanHaskett has a series of drawings of the Chipettes all grown up, which might possibly lead to an animated Chipmunks movie where the Chipmunks and Chipettes grew up.