History Trivia / AlvinAndTheChipmunks

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

* 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 averted for the entire franchise, since the below-mentioned ''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.

* MilestoneCelebration: Just barely averted. Ross Bagdasarian Jr. agreed to the project when he thought that it would be released in 2008, just in time for the Chipmunks' 50th anniversary. By the time he signed on, Fox informed him that they wanted it ready by that coming Christmas.

* FranchiseKiller: Inverted. It managed to increase Chipmunk popularity and spawned three sequels.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Dave was supposed to have a larger role in ''The Squeakquel''. However, his screentime was shortened, due to scheduling conflicts with Creator/JasonLee's lead role in ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', and ultimately changed to Alvin accidentally injuring Dave and leaving him hospitalized for days. His caretaker role was taken over by Creator/ZacharyLevi, Dave's lazy cousin Toby.

* FranchiseKiller: Averted for the entire franchise, since the below-mentioned ''ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks'' did well enough to escape this fate. As noted above, however, played straight for the live-action film series.

* TheDanza: In Italy, Simon Seville is voiced by Simone Crisari.

* TalkingToHimself:
** Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and David Seville are all voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in "The Chipmunk Song".
** Since the '80s, Alvin, Simon, and Dave have been voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., while Theodore and all three Chipettes are voiced by his wife, Janice Karman.
** Later still, when the series switched to [=DiC=] for animation, almost all of the additional one-shot characters were voiced by their associate producer Thom Watkins, with Ross occasionally stepping in for other additional male characters, while Janice voiced most additional female characters.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the LiveActionAdaptation, where each chipmunk is voiced by a different actor.
** On the second-draft ConceptAlbum ''Chipmunk Punk'', each chipmunk is sung by a different singer as well: Ross Bagdasarian Jr. was Alvin, Steve Vining was Simon and Dave Adams of Glass Moon was Theodore.
** PlayedForLaughs on one compilation album in which Alvin "interviews" Ross Bagdasarian Jr.

* ActingForTwo: In the original Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/MariaFernandaMorales voiced both Alvin and Brittany, also overlapping with TalkingToHerself as well.

* TalkingToHimself: Really taken to new levels during the Creator/{{DiC|Entertainment}} era of the show; by then, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman did almost all of the voices themselves (notice an increase in characters who sound almost like Dave, and all the female characters have the same voice), while their associate producer, Thom Watkins, did the rest. By then, the only characters who ''weren't'' voiced by Bagdasarian, Karman, or Watkins were Miss Miller (Dody Goodman) and Lilly the puppy (Frank Welker).

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $90 million (not counting marketing costs). Box office, $85,643,880 (domestic), $232,287,225 (worldwide). 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 will [[FranchiseKiller bring 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]].

!!For ''WesternAnimation/TheAlvinShow'':
* CrossDressingVoices
** Creator/JuneForay does Alvin's angelic self in "Alvin's Alter Ego".
** Alvin in the Italian and Japanese dubs.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: There's never been a complete compilation tape/DVD or box set containing all the episodes. There exists only the aforementioned Sing Along tapes (which just have some of the musical segments) a DVD called "''The Very First Alvin Show''" (which only contains one of the first episodes, along with the specials ''A Chipmunk Reunion'' and ''Rockin' Through the Decades''), and a Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack containing three episodes.
* NonSingingVoice: Creator/JuneForay does Mrs. Frumpington's singing at the end of "Squares" because she sounded more crazier than Lee Patrick.
* TalkingToHimself: Dave, Alvin, Simon, Theodore and Sam Valiant. Though not fully determined, it is rumored that Clyde Crashcup's voice actor Creator/ShepardMenken provided Leonardo the assistant's whispering.
* VindicatedByReruns

!!For ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure'':
* CrossDressingVoices:
** Janice Karman as Theodore.
** Creator/NancyCartwright as the Arabian Prince.
** Creator/FrankWelker as Sophie, the Yorkshire Terrier puppy.
** In the Italian dub, Alvin.
* TalkingToHimself:
** Alvin, Simon and Dave.
** Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor and Theodore.

** Production of the movie became too time consuming, and with the deadline for the completed project fast approaching, several scenes in the original script had to be re-written to make them simpler for the animators to animate (including the sacrificing scene), or cut from the script completely, thus resulting in a much shorter movie with fewer locations The Chipmunks and Chipettes actually visit.
** Early concept art also reveals that the producers originally intended to have a scene where the boys drop off a doll in a church confessional and that the sacrifice scene was originally set on top of a Mayan pyramid instead of a crocodile pit. Another sketch shows the boys in some sort of sewer or prison with two men prying open bars at an opening at the top.

!!For ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunksMeetFrankenstein'':
* CrossDressingVoices:
** Again, Janice Karman as Theodore.
** Alvin in the Italian dub.
* DirectToVideo
* TalkingToHimself: Dave, Alvin and Simon.
* [[ActingForTwo Voicing for Two]]:
** Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson as Bud Wiley and a security guard.
** Creator/FrankWelker as Sammy Squirrel and Frankenstein Monster.
** In the European French dub, Bud Wiley and Phil the bus driver.

!!For ''WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunksMeetTheWolfman'':
* CrossDressingVoice:
** Elizabeth Daily as Nathan.
** Once again, Janice Karman as Theodore.
** In the Italian dub, Alvin.
** European French dub, Theodore.
* DirectToVideo
* TalkingToHimself:
** Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor.
** Dave, Alvin and Simon.
* VoiceActors:
** [[Creator/ElizabethDaily E.G. Daily]]
** Miriam Flynn
** Creator/MauriceLaMarche
** Creator/RobPaulsen
** Creator/FrankWelker
** Creator/AprilWinchell
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: There were plans to make a third Alvin and the Chipmunks direct to video movie by Universal Animation Studios in where they meet Dracula. The plot is that Dracula has bitten Simon to become a vampire and his successor and Alvin and Theodore have to save him. The plans to make this film was canceled when Bagdasarian Productions's contract with Universal had expired.

!!For ''Film/LittleAlvinAndTheMiniMunks'':
* CrossDressingVoice
* DirectToVideo
* RealLifeRelative: Husband Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and wife Janice Karman as Dave and Lalu. In the credits, daughter Vanessa Bagdasarian is part of the "featuring" credits role.
* TalkingToHimself:
** Dave, Alvin and Simon.
** Lalu, Theodore, Brittany and Jeanette, not sure if any of them interacted with Eleanor.

!!For the [[Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks Live-Action/CGI films]]:
!!!First Movie
* TheDanza: In Italy, Simon Seville is voiced by Simone Crisari.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman were set to voice the characters for the first film, (they had already done some of the voices in the trailers), and Ross was even going to play Dave, however, Twentieth Century Fox rejected this, and insisted that younger people do the voices and a younger actor for the role of Dave... though, there ''is'' speculation that Fox made this move because they wanted more marketable names attached to the movie.
* FranchiseKiller: Inverted. It managed to increase Chipmunk popularity and spawned three sequels.
* MilestoneCelebration: Just barely averted. Ross Bagdasarian Jr. agreed to the project when he thought that it would be released in 2008, just in time for the Chipmunks' 50th anniversary. By the time he signed on, Fox informed him that they wanted it ready by that coming Christmas.
* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/DavidCross has made it no secret that he is only in these movies for the paycheck, publicly noting in an interview that his salary from the first film was larger than any other project he had been working on and helped him pay for a new house. He seems to have had enough with ''Chipwrecked'' though, which he called "literally, without question, the most unpleasant experience I've ever had in my professional life".
* TheOtherDarrin:
** Seeing that this has been going for over fifty years, it’s understandable. Although, the reason why Jason Lee was cast as Dave Seville for the live-action movies is because the makers wanted a younger actor at the time instead of the older Ross Bagdasarian Jr..
** Initially, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman reprised their roles as Alvin, Simon and Theodore in the film, but were replaced at the studio's insistence with younger actors Creator/JustinLong, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse [=McCartney=] respectively.
** Simon's singing voice is provided by Steve Vining and it’s not known if he provides the singing as well as voice on new soundtracks, though either he or Matthew Gray Gubler provided one line on the ‘Ho, Ho, Ho,’ song on the ''Undeniable'' soundtrack.
* TheOtherMarty: Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman recorded all the lines for Alvin, Simon and Theodore.
* RoleReprise: In the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/RicardoMendoza voices Dave Seville, reprising his previous role from the 1997 re-dub of ''The Chipmunk Adventure''.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:

!!For ''WesternAnimation/ALVINNNAndTheChipmunks':
* TheOtherDarrin: A passing on generation example: Eleanor is voiced by Vanessa Bagdasarian Chambers, Ross and Janice's elder daughter. The rest of the Chipmunks though, are [[RoleReprise still voiced]] by her parents like in the 80's cartoon.
* TalkingToHimself: The 80s voice casting is brought back for this series.

** Bagdasarian Productions keep re-releasing the exact same compilation [=DVD=]s (with maybe an additional entry or two with certain releases) year after year, under different titles.

* UnderminedByReality: The first one has a story/moral in which the three chipmunks realize that fame and fortune is not all it is cracked out to be, and leave the seemingly superficial lifestyle, and the money, behind to enjoy an apparently better down-to-earth life with Dave. Family being more important that materialism is a fairly common Aesop... but when one realises that the movie is completely MerchandiseDriven, and was made to sell tickets, [=CDs=], toys, video games and other merchandise, the moral of turning your back on materialism seems kind of hollow.

* RealLifeRelative: In the first Italian dub (in which Cooperativa Doppiatori Cinematografici (CDC)[[note]]Film Dubbing Cooperative in Italian[[/note]] covered the Ruby-Spears episodes, seasons 1-5), Dave Seville was voiced by Vittorio Stagni, the real-life father of Ilaria Stagni (who voiced Alvin since season 2). For the Chipettes, Barbara De Bortoli (who voiced Brittany since season 2) is sisters with Federica De Bortoli (Eleanor Miller).

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Bagdasarian chose chipmunks for the "sped up" voice on his novelty records after a chance encounter with a feisty chipmunk he broke for while out for a drive, who seemed to egg him on.

* FanNickname:
** The term "to chipmunk a song" means to edit the song to give the vocals (and consequently the rest of the song) a higher pitch. The term finds its roots in these characters. Just add "chipmunk" to any search for a song on Website/YouTube, and you're bound to find one. Oh, and watch out for fake chipmunked songs. "Real" chipmunked songs are actually pitch-adjusted (like real Chipmunks songs) and are the same length as the original. The fakes are the result of simply speeding up the original and are much shorter. Some people think that the former sounds better than the latter.
** Because they've earned much disdain from a good-sized portion of the fanbase, the CGI character designs (the ones from the live-action movies, NOT the ones from ALVINNN!!!) have earned the not-so-affectionate nickname, "CGI Rats".

* AuthorExistenceFailure: The franchise was dormant in the 1970s due to the death of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** Literally every incarnation of the franchise and almost every album is essentially a glimpse into popular music at the time of release. The Chipmunks themselves are essentially a cover band that plays contemporary tunes. The Chipettes are also prone to FashionDissonance due to dressing in less timeless clothes than the boys sweaters or hoodies.
** "The Chipmunk Song" has Alvin asking for a hula hoop for Christmas, which was all the rage in the late 1950s. These days, you'd wonder why he would want something so simple.

** Janice Karman still provides their singing voices as well as doing their voices in two of the video games. She fully reprises her role for the 2015 series.

* FranchiseKiller: Averted for the entire franchise, since the below-mentioned ''ALVINNN!!! And The Chipmunks'' did well enough to escape this fate. As noted above, however, played straight for the live-action film series.

* NoExportForYou: The Japanese dub aired select episodes of the series. For example, only ''[[Film/KingKong1976 Kong!]]'' and ''[[Film/RoboCop Robomunk]]'' were the only episodes from ''Chipmunks Go To The Movies'' (the final season) to be dubbed and aired in Japanese.

** NoExportForYou: The Japanese dub aired [[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%93%E3%83%B3%E3%81%A8%E3%83%81%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9_(1983%E5%B9%B4%E3%81%AE%E3%83%86%E3%83%AC%E3%83%93%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1) select episodes]] of the series. For example, only ''[[Film/KingKong1976 Kong!]]'' and ''[[Film/RoboCop Robomunk]]'' were the only episodes from ''Chipmunks Go To The Movies'' (the final season) to be dubbed and aired in Japanese.

** Initially, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and Janice Karman portrayed Alvin, Simon and Theodore in the film, but were replaced at the studio's insistence with younger actors Creator/JustinLong, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse [=McCartney=] respectively.