Dexter: The Seventh Season From Paramount Home Media Distribution On May 14

Everyone’s favorite “good guy” serial killer returns on May 14.  That’s the street date that Paramount Home Media Distribution has selected for DVD and Blu-ray sets of Dexter: The Seventh Season, Showtime’s hit crime series starring Michael C. Hall as the title character. 

Fellow Miami Metro Police Department employee, and as luck would have it, his sister, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter), discovers the unthinkable as the season opens and has to make a decision.   Turn her brother in or help him with his career … instead, she chooses to try and “cure” him.   What great fun that should be (quick, a show of hands from all those who believe that’s going to happen)!

Also on the release schedule this week from Paramount Home Media is the Apr. 30 DVD and Blu-ray (with UltraViolet) debut of writer/director David Chase’s 1960s rock and roll drama, Not Fade Away.

The ARR works out to 130 days and the box office take for the film’s limited theatrical run came in at $607,327.

The hook here is David Chase, the creator and executive producer of The Sopranos, making his feature film-directing debut after a long and very successful career in the world of television.   The film sort of got lost in the December crush of blockbuster and Oscar-season candidates, so it will be up to Paramount to stir interest in the home entertainment market place.

It’s New Jersey, the 1960s and the British Invasion.  For Douglas (John Magaro — My Soul to Take, Liberal Arts, etc.) it will be a time for rock and roll … and of course the sex and all that other stuff that goes with the music scene.   His “bandmates,” Eugene (Jack Huston — Eastwick, Boardwalk Empire, etc.) and Wells (Will Brill — King Kelly), dream big, but their music abilities prove to be somewhat limited.   

It doesn’t matter, that’s just the “vehicle,” so to speak, one that serves to drive the story forward.  Douglas likes music, it gets him attention (Bella Heathcote — Dark Shadows) and the tunes give us a reference point (lots of changes in music and society during this period), but the real story is the relationship that we see play out between him and his father (a nice turn by none other than James Gandolfini — jeeze, do you suppose Chase had to ask twice).

As to bonus goodies, those are limited to the Blu-ray SKU.  These include deleted scenes, the featuretted title “Building the Band” and a trio of “basement tapes” (featurettes) titled: “Track 1: The Boys in the Band,” “Track 2: Living in the Sixties” and “Track 3: Hard Art.”

Not done yet!   Also getting a home entertainment launch this week is writer/director Andrew Adamson’s magical romantic fantasy, Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away.

Paramount has tabbed Mar. 12 as the street date for a three-SKU home entertainment product push.  There will be a 3D/2D Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and a stand-alone DVD edition (both of the Blu-ray SKUs Inclue UltraViolet).

With that Mar. 12 delivery date, the ARR comes in at zippy 81 days … the box office gross was $12.5 million.

Bonus features are limited to the two Blu-ray editions and showcase a pair of featurettes — “Making Worlds Away” and “A Day in the Life with Erica Linz.”

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report