Alvin & the Chipmunks DVDs
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The Witch Doctor

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Chipmunk Facts
Alvin and the Chipmunks are a fictional musical group, created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group, Simon, the tall bespectacled intellectual, and Theodore, the chubby, impressionable sweetheart. The trio is "managed" by their human "father" and confidant, David Seville. In reality, David Seville was Bagdasarian's stage name, and the Chipmunks themselves are named after the executives of their original record label, Liberty Records: Alvin Bennett (the president), Simon Waronker (the founder and owner), and Theodore Keep (the chief engineer).

The Chipmunks music career soon landed them on television as bonified cartoon characters.

The Chipmunks had extremely popular hits including "The Witch Doctor" which number one, and earned them two Grammy awards for engineering. Technically the song was before the Chipmunks, but it has long since been included in Chipmunk song compilations. Long lines of albums would follow with the number one hit single "The Chipmunk Song Christmas Don't Be Late" which is technically the very first Chipmunk song.

 After the death of Ross Bagdasarian in 1972, the voices of the Chipmunks were then recorded by his son, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. , and his wife, Janice Karman.

The Alvin Show
The first television series to feature the characters was The Alvin Show. The cartoon gave more distinctive looks and personalities to the three chipmunks than just their voices, and an animated portrayal of Seville was a reasonable caricature of Bagdasarian himself. The series ran from 1961 to 1962, and was one of a small number of animated series to be shown in prime time on CBS. It was not immediately successful and was cancelled after one season, only to find new life in syndication.

In addition to Alvin cartoons, the series also featured the scientist Clyde Crashcup and his assistant Leonardo. Those characters did not feature prominently on any of the later series. Crashcup made a single cameo appearance in A Chipmunk Christmas, and in an episode of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The first television series was produced by Format Films for Bagdasarian Film Corporation. Although the series was broadcast in black and white, it was produced and later re-run in color. 26 episodes each were produced for the Alvin and the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup segments, along with 52 musical segments.

A Chipmunk Christmas
The final Chipmunks album in their original incarnation, The Chipmunks Go To The Movies, was released in 1969. After the death of Ross Bagdasarian in 1972 from a heart attack, the Chipmunks' careers stalled until NBC showed interest in the original show (the network carried Saturday morning reruns of The Alvin Show as a midseason replacement in 1979) and the following year, Excelsior Records released a new album of contemporary songs performed by the Chipmunks. The new album—Chipmunk Punk—featured Bagdasarian's son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., doing the voices of the characters. That album and the continued reruns of the series proved to be popular enough to warrant further new records as well as a new television production, and in 1981, the Chipmunks and Seville returned to television in the Christmas special A Chipmunk Christmas, produced by Chuck Jones, which was first broadcast on NBC on December 14 of that year.

NBC  picked up the original Alvin series and re-ran it on Saturday mornings for a few years after the show's prime time failure, and the show popped up similarly over the next two decades. Ross Bagdasarian died of a heart attack on January 16, 1972 at age 52, 11 days before his 53rd birthday, precluding any future Chipmunk activity. Years later, his son Ross, Jr. picked up on a disc jockey's joke and produced the hit Chipmunk Punk album from 1980, which spurred new interest for a brand new animated series with an updated look to The Chipmunks and David Seville (now voiced by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.). As a result, both the Ruby-Spears-produced Alvin and The Chipmunks (1983-1991) as well as the original Alvin Show could be seen at any given time throughout the 1980s. The Alvin Show was last seen in the United States on Nickelodeon around 1994, and aired there until 1995. It is not currently airing on United States television, but 20th Century Fox announced that The Alvin Show will be released on DVD in the United States around 2007. Music rights are not expected to be an issue since each episode features either Chipmunk originals (including the pre-Chipmunk novelty song Witch Doctor), or public domain songs (mostly traditional children's songs and American patriotic songs).

In 1983, the second cartoon series, produced by Ruby-Spears, was released. Titled simply Alvin and the Chipmunks, the outline of the show closely paralleled the original Alvin Show. The show lasted eight production seasons, until 1990. In the first season, the show introduced the Chipettes, three female versions of the Chipmunks — Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor, each with their own human counterpart, the myopic Miss Beatrice Miller (who arrived for the 1986 season). The Chipmunks even sang a variation of NBC's Let's All Be There campaign for its Saturday-morning lineup in 1984. After 1988, the show was renamed just The Chipmunks to indicate that there were now two groups of them. Also introduced was the boys' "Uncle" Harry, who may or may not have actually been a relative. The show reflected current trends and historical events in pop culture; the Chipmunks sang recent hits, and wore contemporary clothing.

In 1987, during the fifth season of the show on television, the Chipmunks had their first animated feature film, The Chipmunk Adventure, directed by Janice Karman and released to theatres by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. The film featured the Chipmunks and the Chipettes in a contest traveling around the world. Other than improved production values, the movie was more of an extended and enhanced episode of the series.[citation needed]

In the 1988–89 season, the show switched production companies to DiC Entertainment, by which time the Chipmunks had truly become anthropomorphized (including the rather odd decision to give them blue eyes). In 1990, the show switched titles again: The Chipmunks Go to the Movies. Each episode in this season was a spoof of a Hollywood film, such as Back to the Future, King Kong, and others. In addition, several television specials featuring the characters were also released. At the conclusion of the eighth season, the show was cancelled again.

In 1990, a documentary was produced about the show entitled Alvin and the Chipmunks/Five Decades with the Chipmunks. In that year, the Chipmunks also teamed up for the first and only time with other contemporary cartoons (such as Bugs Bunny, Garfield, etc.) for the drug abuse-prevention special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

In 1996, the rights to the characters were purchased by Universal Studios. This resulted in The Chipmunks' 1999 reappearance in the form of the direct-to-video movie Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein. The movie was successful enough to spark interest in a sequel, and in 2000, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman appeared. Both movies featured the original cast of the second series reprising their roles and the tone of the movies are very similar to the series.

In 2004, Fox 2000 Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Bagdasarian Productions announced a live-action/CGI adaptation of the original 1960's series. It is currently scheduled for theatrical release on December 14, 2007 just in time for Christmas!

Movie Info

Alvin Movie Site
Official Chipmunks Site

 

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Alvin and the Chipmunks Box Office
Alvin and the Chipmunks was released in North America on December 14, 2007 and grossed a surprising $44,307,417 in 3,475 theaters its opening weekend averaging to about $12,750 per venue, and placing second at the box office behind I Am Legend (film), with nearly sold out showings. According to Box Office Guru, the first weekend was twice as much as Fox originally expected. Its second weekend was still well-$28,179,556, behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets and I Am Legend. Then on its third weekend, it surpassed I Am Legend for #2 at the box office, still behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The film closed on Thursday June 5, 2008, making $217,326,974 domestically and $141,560,622 overseas for a total of $358,887,596 worldwide, making it a huge commercial success considering the film relatively modest $60 million budget. According to MTV, it also has become the highest-grossing talking animal/live-action cartoon adaptation to date. It is also 20th Century Fox's highest grossing film domestically to be released in 2007.

The box-office success of the film has surprised executives of 20th Century Fox, which produced it, as much as industry analysts and especially movie critics who gave it bad reviews. Elizabeth Gabler of Fox 2000 said to The Los Angeles Times, "I look at the numbers every day, and we just laugh." Since it cost only $55 million to produce, it is likely to be far more profitable than the two other films that it was against, I Am Legend and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.