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We're onto you, chipmunks.

Kim Hollis: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked opened to $23.2 million, less than half of the Squeakquel. Why do you think the audience is so much smaller for this one than it was two years ago?

Edwin Davies: This is a point that we make every time a film in a kid's franchise underperforms, but it's worth repeating: children have short attention spans. Young kids, in particular, will outgrow series that skew very young very quickly, so a kid who was seven when the first film came out and loved it will probably think that they are too old for Chipwrecked now that they are eleven. Kid's franchises have a very short shelf-life unless than can offer something for the whole family, and these films have always skewed very, very young, so once the original core audience has moved on to The Hunger Games or whatever, there won't be an impetus to go and see the newer instalments. In the long run this won't prevent more of these atrocities being made because they're cheap and they can rely on the foreign box office to shore up the numbers, but the series has peaked.

Brett Beach: I will see the maturing kids theory and raise a "if my big brother or sister was into it, I don't want to be" backlash. Four years and three films is almost a generation in the hyperspeed world of now. Plus, the PGs of the first two have been "downgraded" to a G this time (not even enough mild rude humor to kick it up a notch, apparently), which may mean something to some kids who find the G uncool. Finally, I would hope and pray that maybe some parents saw the trailers and ads and cried "Uncle!" and are opting to take their kids - and themselves--once (or again) to the not one, not two but three family-friendly and well-received options currently available (The Muppets, Hugo, Arthur Christmas).

Bruce Hall: We're talking a total four year span here and only two since the last installment, so while I don't doubt it's a factor, I'm reluctant to place the blame for this entirely on the dramatic aging of a static audience. There are always more six year old kids in the world; I think there's more at play here. The original Chipmunks flick opened on almost the same date as Chipwrecked (12/14/07), and was something of a novelty at the time, so maybe it really deserved its success. But the second installment opened on Christmas, a good move that probably inflated the numbers somewhat. Chipwrecked went back to the weekend before Christmas (12/16), perhaps in an effort to avoid getting rubbed out by Mr. Spielberg next week. This no doubt worked against the film, as well as unintentionally exposing its biggest flaw, the one everyone always seems reluctant to mention.

It. Sucks.

It sucks even in comparison to other movies about animated singing chipmunks, and "exit polling" on this movie would seem to support that. Children are a little more discriminating than they're given credit for. They DO have short attention spans - after a 15 minute car ride to the theater, and an eternity of previews, commercials and turn-your-cell-phone-off spots, they will get bored with a bad film like this or Cars 2 less than 20 minutes in. And they will force you from the theater against your will in a kicking fit of whining and crying. After an afternoon like that, before you're even back to the car you've gone online and angrily warned all 400 of your Facebook friends to save their $80 and stay the hell away.

Don't think this does not happen. As Brett just mentioned, there are better family films still showing right now, and more and more it is taking a big deal to get parents to spend big bucks at the theater. I'd rather spend $20 on a DVD of something that came out last Spring, and if the tots make it half way through because they want to play the Wii or eat crayons instead then that's fine, because they can just finish it later. But for the money you'd waste taking a family of four to Chipwrecked, you could pay your cable bill or fill your gas tank twice. Audiences are getting harder to fool. Nice try, Fox.

Matthew Huntley: Well put, Bruce, and very funny reply. I would just like to add that Chipwrecked shouldn't be viewed as an outright bomb just yet. Sure, its opening is soft compared to its predecessors, but remember Yogi Bear opened to $16 million last year and wound up with over six times that amount in the end. So the third (and hopefully final) Chipmunks movie could still make its way to $140 million or so. I'm not saying it will, but it'sa possibility. From the looks of things, Tintin may be too sophisticated for really little kids, making Chipwrecked the only other choice for parents. Well, not the only choice (they could just as well stay home), but you know what I mean.

David Mumpower: I believe the debate here involves profitable in terms of revenue gained as opposed to opportunity cost losses. I absolutely agree that Chipwrecked will prove to be profitable thanks to a combination of holiday box office inflation and overseas revenue. The damage here is that the franchise appears broken with stink of failure being associated with the product. The rush to put out a third film only two years after the last one and only four years after the original has led to a lack of new ideas for a project that -- let's be honest here -- wasn't bursting with good ideas in the first place.

To a larger point, this has not been a good year for family films. The disappointments vastly outnumber the triumphs.

Tim Briody: To David's last point, I wonder if movies are finally losing their grip as the number one entertainment option for families. You could argue that it's long overdue with the advent of DVDs, cable, on demand viewing, DVR's, video gaming systems, etc., but the number of flops this year is pretty astounding and I'm having trouble coming up with something that overperformed.

On the other hand, if Jason Lee needed money, he really should have just asked us.

Reagen Sulewski: I think coming so quickly on the heels of another sequel with screechingly high covers of pop songs that are several years out of date (Happy Feet 2) didn't help. I don't think 8-year-olds are really relating to Destiny's Child songs from when they were in pre-school. This just proves that even a one-idea series can run out of ideas.

Max Braden: Not having children, I'll speculate that it's an expensive endeavor to take them to more than one movie a month. The Squeakquel didn't have much competition to deal with besides The Princess and the Frog, but this year with so many good kid-friendly films already mentioned beating it to the punch and draining wallets, there isn't much reason to go out for this.

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