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Music. Family. Power. The battle begins.
From out gay director Lee Daniels (''Precious'', ''The Paperboy'') comes ''Empire'', a sexy and powerful new drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne.
Terrence Howard plays Lucious Lyon, a former drug dealer turned hip hop mogul and the boss of Empire Entertainment, whose reign has been unchallenged for all these year. But all that changes when he learns he has a disease that is going to render him crippled and incapacitated in a matter of three years. The clock is ticking, and he must groom one of his three sons to take over his crowning achievement. But who will it be? Andre is the corporate animal and a smooth operator, but conniving, with a devious wife. Jamal (played by out gay actor Jussie Smollett) is sensitive and has a gift for making music like his father, but Lucious won't accept him because he's gay, and there is a lot of bad blood between them. Finally there is the youngest son, Hakim - the spoiled little prince who wants an empire but doesn't have the drive nor the knowledge for the role.
To complicate things, Lucious' ex-wife, Cookie (with some of the best lines, delivered fabulously by Taraji P. Henson), has just finished serving a 17-year prison sentence, after taking the fall for running the drugs that financed Lucious' early career. Now she's back, and determined to reclaim her share of Empire Entertainment and bring her fractured family back together (after breaking up Lucious and his new girlfriend Anika).
There's plenty to love in ''Empire'' - Dynasty style catfights, a great soundtrack produced by Timbaland, a talented cast with support from actors like Naomi Campbell, Jennifer Hudson, Courtney Love and Mary J. Bligh, and cameos by Gladys Knight, Snoop Dogg and Patti LaBelle as themselves.
This is a Four disc DVD set, and features never-before-seen uncut performances.
Starring: Terrence Howard, Bryshere Y. Gray, Jussie Smollett, Trai Byers, Grace Gealey, Kaitlin Doubleday, Taraji P. Henson, Ta'Rhonda Jones, Gabourey Sidibe
Region Code: 4
Rating: M for Mature themes, Violence, Sexual References and Drug Use
Time: 504 minutes + Extras
DVD Release Date: September 2015
Presentation: Colour, PAL, 16:9 / 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Language: English, English Captions for the Hearing Impaired
DVD Extras: Complete Musical performances; Commentary on ''Pilot''; ''Empire'' - Its in the Music!
