Alvin and the Chipmunks (film)

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tim Hill
Written by	Jon Vitti Will McRobb Chris Viscardi
Produced by	Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Janice Karman
Starring	Jason Lee David Cross Cameron Richardson Justin Long Matthew Gray Gubler Jesse McCartney
Cinematography	Peter Lyons Collister
Edited by	Peter Berger
Music by	Christopher Lennertz
Production companies	20th Century Fox Regency Enterprises Bagdasarian Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	December 14, 2007 (2007-12-14)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Box office	$361,336,633

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a 2007 comedy film directed by Tim Hill. Based on the animated series of the same name, the film stars Jason Lee, David Cross, and Cameron Richardson with the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox and produced by Regency Enterprises and Bagdasarian Productions. The film was critically panned, but was a major financial success: on a budget of $60 million, it made $217 million in North America and $361 million at the box office worldwide, and was the seventh-best selling DVD of 2008, earning over $101 million.

Plot

The tree that the chipmunks Alvin (Justin Long), Simon (Matthew Gray Gubler), and Theodore (Jesse McCartney) live in is cut down and driven to Los Angeles. Once in L.A., the Chipmunks meet struggling songwriter David Seville (Jason Lee) who had his latest song rejected by JETT Records executive Ian Hawke (David Cross), his old college roommate. Dave also once had a relationship with his next door neighbor, Claire Wilson (Cameron Richardson).

After winding up at Dave's interview, the Chipmunks hop into his basket and follow him home. Once at home, Dave discovers the Chipmunks, and is accidentally knocked unconscious. Upon waking, he kicks them out until hearing them sing "Only You (And You Alone)". Dave then makes a deal with them; they sing the songs he writes, and in exchange he provides food and shelter for them. However, all does not go well, as Dave's job presentation is ruined by their coloring on it, and when Alvin tries to set the mood for his dinner with Claire, things become weird and she rejects him after he tells her, "My life is being sabotaged by talking chipmunks." To make it up to Dave, the boys go to Ian in an attempt to record a song and get a record deal.

Once the Chipmunks sing Dave's song to Ian, Ian signs them to the label and rehires Dave the next day. After a few singles, the Chipmunks become wildly popular. When Dave expresses concern for their well-being and insists that the Chipmunks are "kids" who don't need so much craziness in their lives, Ian convinces the Chipmunks that Dave is holding them back. Eventually, Dave tells the Chipmunks that if they like "Uncle Ian" so much, they should just go live with him. They become enchanted with Ian at first, but once they set off on a coast-to-coast tour, Ian takes advantage of their naivete, changing their image and working them constantly. Meanwhile, Dave misses the chipmunks and he wishes they would come back home. He calls Ian to see if he can talk to them but Ian refuses, and then conceals Dave's motives from the boys. Later, the Chipmunks are wearing out, and it is all over the news. Dave, infuriated by what Ian has done to the three, decides to take matters into his own hands by infiltrating their concert.

Just before the big concert, a doctor says that the Chipmunks can not sing because their voices have given out. Ian declines to hand out refunds and orders the Chipmunks to lip sync. With Claire's help, Dave sneaks into the concert, but is grabbed by the security guards. When the Chipmunks see Dave being taken away, they decide that they have had enough of Ian, revealing that they were lip-syncing and ruin the concert. They are soon caught by Ian just when Dave is about to rescue them. He locks them up in a cage and prepares to take them to Paris. Dave tries to convince Ian to let the boys go but Ian refuses. Ian then leaves in his limo with the boys and Dave chases them but the boys have already escaped to Dave's car. Dave immediately pulls over and admits that he loves them like his own family. Meanwhile, Ian looks in the cage and is shocked to see the boys have replaced themselves with merchandising dolls.

Sometime later, when the boys are fully accepted as part of the family, they invite Claire over for dinner again. Alvin accidentally creates a short circuit while having difficulty opening a bottle of champagne. Dave is trying not to say it, but the short circuit causes a blackout in the kitchen. Dave can hold it in no longer and says it, letting out his trademark yell "ALLLLVINNN!!", to which Alvin responds with "Okay!".

In the film's epilogue, Ian (now unemployed) tries to make three squirrels sing, but fails.

Cast

• Jason Lee as David Seville
• David Cross as Ian Hawke
• Cameron Richardson as Claire Wilson
• Jane Lynch as Gail
• Beth Riesgraf as Mother in Store
• Adriane Lenox as Vet
• Frank Maharajh as Barry

Voices

• Justin Long (Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., singing) as Alvin
• Matthew Gray Gubler (Steve Vining, singing) as Simon
• Jesse McCartney (Janice Karman, singing) as Theodore

Production

Development

According to producer Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., a big-studio ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS feature film had been a longtime goal. "[Producer] Janice [Karman] and I had been thinking about making a movie with the Chipmunks for over ten years, and one of the things really important to us was to make a film that could be enjoyed by the three generations of Chipmunks fans. Whatever we do with The Chipmunks, we always try to keep it fresh. And we thought it would be fun to put the Chipmunks into a live-action world and then reinvent the look of the characters to make them believable in that environment."

"We wanted to make sure the Chipmunks retained the essence of the characters that people grew up with," adds Karman. "So you could look at Alvin and even though he's three-dimensional now in CGI, the spirit of the original creation is still there."

Under the watchful eyes of the two producers, the "inner-'Munk" of these beloved figures -Alvin's mischievous but well-intentioned nature, Simon's brainy intellect and Theodore's adorable charm - all remained intact.

Karman elaborated: "Ross and I never treated The Chipmunks as a cartoon. They had real emotions. While Alvin was brash, it was important that he was also vulnerable. Simon is the oldest and because The Chipmunks don't have parents, Simon is the adult who looks after the baby, Theodore, and tries to temper the rash Alvin."

The director, Tim Hill, pointed out, the 'Munks had undergone some important stylistic and attitudinal upgrades for their big-screen debut. "These aren't your father's Chipmunks," Hill laughs. "They have a contemporary edge and attitude, and they look and move a lot differently than previous versions of the characters. They're feisty and funny, they sing and they dance. They're pop superstars...with fur."

Also, the filmmakers upped the emotional stakes for Alvin, Simon, Theodore and Dave. "We wanted to tell a heartwarming story about the coming together of a new family," explains Hill. "Dave, despite his doubts about himself and his new charges, comes to love Alvin, Simon and Theodore."

===Script===ALVIN AND THE CHIPM The producers and studio turned to screenwriter Jon Vitti to come up with the story for the film. Bagdasarian and Karman wanted the script to be really smart and being fans of Vitti's work, waited eight months until Jon was available. Vitti, who had a lengthy stint as a writer-producer on "The Simpsons" and was one of the "all-star" writers on the blockbuster "The Simpsons Movie," relished the opportunity to help bring to life a new incarnation of the beloved characters. "I knew [writing the movie] would be a lot of fun, and that the movie's potential appeal could spread to all ages," he notes. "It's a timeless, albeit crazy premise with a lot of heart: a father figure with three talking and singing chipmunks who effectively become his kids."

Vitti took note of the reactions of those who learned he was writing the story and co-writing the script to a new, big-screen iteration of ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS. "It was really fun to see how excited people would get at even the idea of a new [Chipmunks] film. The characters are fondly remembered and people love the songs."

The screenwriting team of Will McRobb & Chris Viscardi also made important contributions to the final screenplay, including a big third-act concert sequence where the Chipmunks perform on stage in front of thousands of fans, while Dave seeks to extricate them from the clutches of ruthless music producer Ian. "It's a big scene, the film's climax, and it was a lot of fun to write," notes McRobb. "But it really didn't completely fall into place until the location was set."

The location to which he is referring is Los Angeles' Orpheum Theatre, one of the city's most venerable landmarks. Everyone from a young Judy Garland to a recent crop of American Idols has performed in the renowned venue - which can now add Alvin, Simon and Theodore to its roster of luminaries.

McRobb & Viscardi took seriously the responsibility of updating the 'Munks for a new generation of fans. "Pretty much everyone on the planet knows 'The Chipmunk Song'," says Viscardi. "The characters and their music are sacred parts of our pop culture, and we wanted to be very careful how we dealt with that."

Still, that responsibility was accompanied by a lot of Chipmunk-themed fun. "When working on the script, there were moments of feeling like we were involved with something really cool; for instance, when I was actually typing the words, Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah - and trying to figure out how to spell it," McRobb laughs.

Casting

The old show business adage that goes, "Never work with children or animals" took on a new meaning to the film's cast - which got to work with animals [the Chipmunks] who are children! Happily for all concerned, the film's two-legged cast got on swimmingly with their four-legged (CG) counterparts.

But the casting process wasn't an easy one. Director Tim Hill notes that the character of Dave Seville requires a rare combination of comedic skills, charisma and sympathy, "all of which Jason Lee brought to the project." Ross Bagdasarian adds, "It was important to find an actor who had the kind of appeal that when he shouted [Dave's signature exhortation] 'ALVIN!!!' you would still root for him. We were lucky to get Jason because he has that kind of charm and appeal."

In addition to his comedic talents, Lee was adept at interacting with three principals who, of course, weren't really there. "It takes more than a correct eye line to make you believe Alvin, Simon and Theodore are there with Jason; what makes it real are his actions and focus," Bagdasarian continues. "And Jason's task was complicated by a factor of three because he was acting opposite a trio - who rarely are seen standing together. He always had to keep in mind which Chipmunk was speaking, and from where."

"Jason seemed unusually comfortable acting opposite nothing," agrees Tim Hill. "And David Cross had a fantastic sense of being able to roll with one take after another."

"Having to remember where the 'Munks are hopping and in what order was the biggest challenge," Lee adds. "Alvin goes this way, Simon goes that way, Theodore stays here...wait, he's up there...and now there!" Lee laughs, gesticulating to illustrate his point.

"Acting opposite nothing is sometimes difficult because of the inherent technicalities," says David Cross. "Sometimes even just a speck of dust will get my eyes all a twitter, and I'd have to do another take."

Lee and Cross were cast by the time co-screenwriters McRobb & Viscardi joined the project - much to the delight of the scribes. "It took a lot of pressure off of us when we knew Jason Lee and David Cross would be speaking our lines," says McRobb. The screenwriting duo also notes that Cross' casting as villainous record company executive Ian brought another dimension to the character. Viscardi explains: "David doesn't look like your standard villain, and we had a lot of fun with that. In earlier script drafts, Ian was more of a stereotypically slick music executive. David brought out the character's inner dork, so his Ian is a guy trying to be something he's not, taking on the mannerisms of somebody who is cool and powerful. But inside...he's still a dork."

The character of Dave's ex- and perhaps future girlfriend, Claire, provides another dimension to the beleaguered songwriter. "Dave has a comically difficult history with women; it's another aspect of his inability to keep his life in order," says Cameron Richardson. "I think their relationship gives the story added appeal to adults. Dave has to learn how to grow up, and his dealings with Claire are part of that process."

Three of today's hottest young actors - "Dodgeball's" Justin Long, "Criminal Minds'" Matthew Gray Gubler, and pop sensation/actor Jesse McCartney - joined the project in post-production to voice, respectively, Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Producers Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman were delighted with the work of all three performers - no small thing given that Bagdasarian's father, Ross, Sr., voiced all three roles before his untimely passing, with Bagdasarian and Karman performing the voices the past thirty years. "Justin, Matthew and Jesse were all funny and smart, while conveying the critical heart of the characters," says an appreciative Bagdasarian.

Animation

The film saw the boys completely re-imagined for the digital age. A successful fusion of the real world and state-of-the-art digital animation was necessary to make the Chipmunks convincing in a live-action movie. Although this new look definitely has more of an edge than the cartoon Chipmunks we've known and loved for over 45 years, they still retain their essential "'Munk-ness." "The challenge was to make them believable in a live action environment, while still being recognizable as the Chipmunks we know and love," says producer Janice Karman.

The new look comes many years after Alvin, Simon and Theodore made their public debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," as puppets performing with Bagdasarian Sr.'s Dave Seville. In the beginning, the Chipmunks looked, well, very much like chipmunks ... not photo-realistic, but based more on the animal than on a plushy derivative.

Their animated series "The Alvin Show" debuted on television in the fall of 1961 and with it, a new look for Alvin, Simon and Theodore. The Chipmunks' sharp lines and feral look was replaced by a friendlier, colorfully vibrant trio. Although Karman herself supervised another redesign for the second cartoon series launched in 1983, it has remained essentially the look of the Chipmunks...until now.

The Chipmunks' digital makeover was a long, complicated process that stretched well into production and even post-production. Working closely with Bagdasarian and Karman, some of the industry's top character designers contributed to the 'Munks' new look, including H. B. "Buck" Lewis, whose impressive resume includes "Ratatouille" and "Ice Age"; and Chris Consani, who had worked on "Night at the Museum" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe."

As the characters were being finalized, animation supervisor Chris Bailey and his team at visual effects house Rhythm & Hues Studios - whose preeminence in character animation is evident in "Night at the Museum," "Happy Feet," and "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" - began to work their magic in animating and virtually creating the performances of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Taking classic characters beloved by generations of fans around the world and changing their look altogether while retaining a sense of familiarity posed quite a challenge, but one for which Bailey was up to the task. Bailey has worked in the digital realm for several years lending his talents to films such as "X2," "Garfield" and "Fat Albert."

The caretakers of the ALVIN phenomenon - Bagdasarian and Karman - were impressed with the animators' work. "The Chipmunks are only as smart and interesting as the animators move them to be," Bagdasarian points out. "The animation team really makes you feel for the Chipmunks; they make them relatable. Alvin couldn't be just Mr. Know It All and a daredevil; he had to have vulnerability. Yes, Theodore is as sweet and food-crazy as ever, but the animators also gave him a naive quality that is endearing. Simon is as smart as can be, but he also has a great sense of humor and is able to stand up to Alvin when required to do so. Chris Bailey and Rhythm & Hues provided these critical character dimensions."

But before the animation began, the animators at Rhythm and Hues video taped Karman and Bagdasarian talking about The Chipmunks, detailing the "boys'" personal idiosyncrasies and how they would react to a given situation. "Alvin and Simon might fight, Alvin and Theodore might fight, but Simon and Theodore would never fight," says Karman.

To create the Chipmunk performances, Bailey worked closely with director Tim Hill, the actors, and key department heads. Early in pre-production, Bailey and Hill storyboarded the script and effects shots, always looking for more entertaining actions for the characters in a given scene.

During principal photography, scenes with the Chipmunks were rehearsed with stuffed animals - the cast and crew called them "stuffies" - standing in for the CG 'Munks. New staging and comedic moments for the diminutive trio continued to be developed.

In post-production, Bailey oversaw the work of the animators at Rhythm & Hues responsible for the individual Chipmunk performances. "I was Alvin, Simon and Theodore rolled into one," says Bailey. "My job was to make certain that everyone understood the characters and maintained a consistency of performances."

Bailey mixed important character delineations with the high-voltage Chipmunks-run-amuck action. "I was always looking for things that the Chipmunks could interact with," he explains. "For example, when they jump from one spot to another, can they knock over a glass of water, or push a book over to the side. Do they care when they jump past a plant? I surmised that Alvin would probably jump through the plant because he knows it's not going to hurt him. Simon would be more thoughtful; he wouldn't want to damage anything belonging to Dave, so he'd walk around the plant. Theo would bump his head on the plant."

Bailey points to a sequence where the Chipmunks perform a new version of their classic hit "Witch Doctor" before their legions of fans, then enjoy a big backstage party, as being particularly satisfying. "They're stars in this scene," he enthuses. "It's big, opulent, and wonderfully designed and choreographed. And it's a great, funny song.

"Once the Chipmunks animation was added to the scene, everyone - the studio, director, producers - thought the scene should have gone on longer. That was a huge compliment to the animation team."

Rhythm & Hues animation supervisor Lyndon Barrois directed the performances of the Chipmunks through seventy-three Los Angeles-based animators and another ten in India. For Barrois, the principal challenge was one of scale. "Alvin, Simon and Theodore are small and have to interact with humans while keeping their chipmunk characteristics," he says. "We wanted audiences to believe these are talking/singing/dancing chipmunks - but they're still chipmunks!"

To obtain background on the Chipmunk phenomenon, the animation staff met with Bagdasarian and Karman, watched episodes of the original "Alvin and the Chipmunks" television series, and filmed real chipmunks for movement and anatomical references. "We really wanted to understand how chipmunks move," says Barrois. "We examined their dart-y, furtive actions, how they stuff their mouths, and how they transition from biped to quadruped, then back to biped."

Barrois notes that this research was an important tool in rendering the digital Chipmunks. "I think the boys are most appealing when they're being their natural chipmunks selves, getting up on their hind legs, and stretching back to look at something. We really tried to resist the temptation to make them too anthropomorphic."

Another key figure at Rhythm & Hues was CG supervisor Todd Shifflet - the "How-Do-We-Do-It?" filmmaker who determined lighting schemes and ways to best integrate the Chipmunks into the set and with the human actors. It was Shifflet and his team who, among other things, made sure the Chipmunks' fur was combed, their hair moved correctly, and their eyes sparkled.

Music

The Chipmunks had a brand new sound that incorporates their signature music with modern takes on rock, pop, reggae and hip hop. Included in the film's soundtrack, released by Razor & Tie, are renditions of classics such as "Funkytown," "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)." Stand out new songs include "Get Munk'd," "Follow Me Now," as well as a cover of the Top 40 hit "Bad Day."

Overseeing it all is the film's executive music producer, Ali Dee Theodore. Theodore's ability to deliver accessible, fun pop music has long been recognized by industry watchers, and he more than rose to the task of creating a new incarnation of the band known as ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS.

Theodore's goal was to make the boys a legitimate band - to create music that could be played today on MTV, and that would appeal to kids, teens and adults. "I wanted every song to be a hit single, and treated each track as such," he explains. "Here again, the Chipmunks-'run-amuck' theme is front and center. Their antics fit right in with their standing as emerging pop superstars," says Theodore. "Private jets, trashing hotel rooms...it's all part of that lifestyle.

"In fact, one of the tracks, 'Ain't No Party' is about ...how there 'ain't no party' like a Chipmunk party. It's heavily rooted in hip-hop, and it's all about being on the road."

For Ali Dee Theodore, one of the highlights of producing a new Chipmunks sound was the completion of the soundtrack's final mix. "We cranked the mix in the studio, and everyone's heads started bopping up and down, and they'd sing the choruses. You got three little furry guys singing these songs about love, about clubbing, and about hanging out with their boys - and it all worked. Every song has a different highlight, but each one provoked the same reaction: 'Wow, this is a hot record!' Everyone was surprised to experience the Chipmunks this way; their beat was banging."

The soundtrack is complemented by composer Christopher Lennertz's music, which underscores the film's comedy, as well as the evolving relationship between Dave and the Chipmunks.

Dance is another key element of the Chipmunks' on-stage electricity. Choreographer Rosero McCoy mapped out show-stopping steps for Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Like the songs, the dancing mixes contemporary with old-school moves. "I wanted the steps to hold up a year from now, and beyond," says McCoy.

Some of the more modern moves are based on snap dance, a subcategory of hip-hop dance that started in Atlanta; the Los Angeles-based Krumping, a new form of dance characterized by free, expressive and highly energetic moves (a perfect match for the 'Munks); and a street dance that originated in Oakland. But in the end, the moves belonged to the 'Munks, who in the film give their moves names like "The Paw Up" and "The Chip Hop."

The animators' mandate was to sell the excitement and rhythm of the Chipmunk dancing. But before the Rhythm & Hues wizards went to work on the 'Munk moves, McCoy went through the steps with human stand-ins who took on the characteristics of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. This template helped the animators understand a given dance's form and moves, but translating the human dancing into a chipmunk-sized body, was a formidable challenge. Says animation supervisor Chris Bailey: "The animators not only had to translate the weight and energy of a grown man into a little chipmunk body, but push the Chipmunks' expressions and imbue the characters with individual, signature moves - creating a new energy level.

"Alvin: he's really proud; this is his moment [on-stage]. He believes he was destined to be a star. Theo - his attitude is more, 'Gosh, wow! I can't believe I'm here. And, wow, people love me!' And Simon, the 'thinker' of the trio, we're surprised to see him actually get down with the best of them."

According to Rhythm & Hues' Lyndon Barrois, the animators themselves really got into the spirit of things... by bustin' a few 'munk moves of their own. "The guys would feel the music and start dancing while they were animating. They'd bounce off each other; the rhythm just started to get into everyone."

The high-tech dancing is complemented by some nostalgic and emotionally-tinged set decoration - personal touches that Bagdasarian enlisted production designer Richard Holland to sprinkle throughout the set. For instance, the piano on which Jason Lee's Dave Seville composes "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is the same piano on which Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. composed the perennial hit. Even the address of the movie house is significant: 1958, the year the Chipmunks were born.

"I love having this stuff in the movie," Bagdasarian, Jr. proclaims. "It brings a kind of authenticity to the film that it wouldn't otherwise have."

Ultimately, though, what makes ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS work is the story. "I remember telling [producer] Janice [Karman] that there was never an episode of [the '60s series] 'The Alvin Show,' that dealt with how the Chipmunks came to live with Dave Seville. That became one of the first episodes Janice and I wrote for the 1983 network series debut, and we're delighted that an origin story became the genesis of this movie," Bagdasarian says.

"And it's also relationship story," Karman adds. "You have to have characters that people care about and, if we do our job, that the audience is pulling for to get together by the end despite the challenges they face."

"This movie is an exciting addition to all of the projects we've done in the past with the Chipmunks," Bagdasarian, concludes. "It's a dream come true, a real testimony to what my dad created almost 50 years ago."

Release

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 27% of 104 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.4 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Though cutely rendered, Alvin and the Chipmunks suffers from bland potty humor and a rehashed kids' movie formula." Among the site's notable critics, 22% gave the film a positive write-up, based on a sample of 23. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, the film is considered to have "generally unfavorable reviews" with a rating score of 39 based on 23 reviews.

Variety magazine called the film a "harmless and frequently humorous trifle that might be a potent B.O. performer, if only by default, during a holiday season surprisingly short on kidpics" and noted that "homevid prospects are huge"; the home video prediction later proved to be accurate. Roger Ebert gave it two stars out of four, saying it is "about as good as a movie with these characters can probably be...at some level, the movie may even be doing something satirical about rock stars and the hype machine." The critics for The Guardian and The Observer were split, with Philip French saying its a "film that kids will love and adults will find tolerable" and Peter Bradshaw giving it one star out of five and calling it a "thoroughly brain-dead semi-animated family comedy".

Box office

Alvin and the Chipmunks was released in North America on December 14, 2007. Despite negative reviews, the film grossed $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. According to Box Office Guru, the first weekend was twice as much as Fox originally expected. Its second weekend was $28,179,556, behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets and I Am Legend. On its third weekend, it surpassed I Am Legend for #2 at the box office, but still ranked behind National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

The film closed on Thursday June 5, 2008, making $217,326,974 domestically and $144,009,659 overseas for a total of $361,336,633 worldwide, making it a huge commercial success considering the film's modest $60 million budget. The sustained box-office success of the film surprised 20th Century Fox; Elizabeth Gabler of Fox 2000 told the Los Angeles Times "I look at the numbers every day, and we just laugh." Given its budget, Alvin was far more profitable than either I Am Legend or National Treasure: Book of Secrets. According to MTV, it also became the highest-grossing talking animal/live-action cartoon adaptation until its sequel. It is also 20th Century Fox's highest grossing film domestically to be released in 2007.

Home media

Alvin and the Chipmunks was released on DVD and Blu-ray April 1, 2008. The DVD release is presented on a double-sided disc featuring both full screen (1.33:1 aspect ratio) and widescreen formats (1.85:1 aspect ratio) with English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Spanish and French Dolby Surround with English and Spanish subtitles. Special features include a preview of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, a history of The Chipmunks, and an explanation of how the singing is created. The Wal-Mart edition includes a bonus exclusive music CD. The K-Mart edition includes a free junior novel of the film. The Best Buy edition includes 3 mini plush toys of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in a collectible box.

Awards

• 2008 Kids' Choice Awards: Favorite Movie (winner)
• 2008 Young Artist Awards: Best Family Feature Film (Fantasy or Musical) (nominee)
• 2008 BMI Film & TV Awards: BMI Film Music Award (winner)

Marketing

Soundtrack

Main article: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released November 20, 2007, three weeks before the film's opening and contains new versions of old songs such as "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don't Be Late)" (as made famous by David Seville and The Chipmunks), cover versions of songs such as "Bad Day" (as made famous by Daniel Powter) and "Funkytown" (as made famous by Lipps Inc.) and new songs such as "Coast 2 Coast", "Get You Goin'" and "Get Munk'd". The second track on the album is "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", a remake version, without Jason Lee as the voice of Dave. However, the seventh track, the rock version of the song features Jason Lee as the voice of Dave.

Video game

Main article: Alvin and the Chipmunks (video game)

The video game for this film was released December 4, 2007 for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and the PC, just ten days before the film was released. It was written and produced by DeeTown Entertainment.

Sequels

Main article: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

A sequel was released on December 23, 2009 in the USA, December 21 in the U.K., and December 26 in Australia. Excluding Cameron Richardson, all of the primary cast members returned for the sequel and the film also re-introduced The Chipettes. A third film (Chip-wrecked) is set for a release on December 16, 2011.

External links

• Alvin and the Chipmunks at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Alvin and the Chipmunks at AllMovie
• Alvin and the Chipmunks at Box Office Mojo
• Alvin and the Chipmunks at Rotten Tomatoes
• Alvin and the Chipmunks at Metacritic