Paramount Home Media Selects Aug. 28 As The Street Date For DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Writer/Director Bill Holderman's Book Club

Paramount Home Media has selected Aug. 28 as the street date for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of writer/director Bill Holderman’s summer surprise counter-programming hit, Book Club.

The ARR works out to 95 days and box office receipts were a very tasty $67.2 million … with seemingly every multiplex screen exploding with super hero noise, it was refreshing to have something without a decibel level of 120 (the sound of sirens blazing).

If you had read the cast list out loud, you might get some curious looks.  Jane Fonda, boy there’s some baggage.   Hanoi Jane!   Diane Keaton, she can be really annoying on screen … the same mannerisms that endeared her to audiences in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall have grown stale.   Candice Bergen?   Mary Steenburgen?  Their combined age is 289 years old … the United States isn’t that old.

On paper this looks like a Hallmark or Lifetime movie, not a commercial theatrical hit from a major studio.  And that speaks volumes about the state of the movie business these days … loud, loud and louder, story be damned (think: The Player) and actors, even those “old” decrepit actors (with baggage), if given the proper material, can actually shine … no CGI needed.

The story revolves around four life-long friends who all belong to the same book club.   It can be pretty dull, but things got spiced up a bit when E.L. James’ trilogy of erotic novels — “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed” — were added to the reading mix.   

All of the fun — and romance — spins out from there as Fonda, Keaton, Bergen and Steenburgen realize that they are not dead quite yet.   Audiences embraced that, and chick flick or not, Book Club was hit … and that mojo will certainly carry over to the home entertainment market place come Aug. 28.

As to bonus goodies, which are limited to the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack SKU, there are deleted and extended scenes, and four production featurettes — “It All Started with a Book,” “Casting Book Club,”  “Location, Location, Location” and “A New Chapter.”

Also added to the release calendar for delivery during the post-Labor Day period this past week by Paramount Home Media were a pair of full-season TV-on-DVD collections.

Making its debut on Sept. 25 is the new reboot of the Carrington family battles story, Dynasty: Season One.   All 22 episodes starring Grant Show as Blake Carrington, with Elizabeth Gillies as Fallon and Nathalie Kelley as Cristal.   Different decade, same battles … enjoy.   

And, CBS has re-upped this new Dynasty for a second season, which will begin airing on Oct. 12 … timing is spot-on for the DVD launch.

Also heading home on Sept. 25 is the next round of high-stakes legal tussles between U.S. Attorney Charles "Chuck" Rhoades Jr. (Paul Giamatti) and Robert “Bobby” — the Axe — Axelrod (Damian Lewis), Billions: Season Three.   All 12 episodes on DVD!   And yes, Billions will be back for a fourth season this fall.